Burning Skies
by MosesArk Reborn2000
Summary: An AU that tackles the idea of if Natsu had been present for Fairy Tail disbanding but unseen by his friends and as a result reacts in a way no-one could foresee coming. Can his friends help him through his darkness or will the world have to contend the wrath of the new Fire Dragon King. Darker Natsu, Stronger Natsu, Dragon Natsu , Smarter Natsu all around
1. Chapter 1

**Hello fanfiction. I know what you're all thinking about. And I'm working on my other three stories soon. But I just found this story a while ago and I just couldn't stop myself from re-working it to give it new life as the original version hasn't been updated in a few years so I thought I could take the idea and run with it. Also I've changed some things about the Fairy Tail universe to give myself more breathing room to work with as well as make this story more enjoyable for you guys.**

 **Hope you enjoy.**

 **Chapter 1: Prologue**

 **Prologue**

Natsu could not believe. He refused to believe it. But that didn't change the fact that it was true; Fairy Tail had been disbanded.

In Natsu's life, there had only ever been two places he could've gone for comfort: Igneel (who was now dead), and Fairy Tail (which was now gone). Of course, Natsu knew better than probably anyone that Fairy Tail was more than just a physical guild, it was a thing in one's heart. Normally, Natsu would've been able to live with that, but then he had watched, as everyone easily left….

 **(Flashback)**

"What's your plan, Lu?" Levy asked Lucy with a smile. She, Lucy, Erza, and Wendy were all heading back to their respective dwellings, to start the job search. Everyone was acting pretty positive about the whole thing.

"I was thinking about going to Sorcerer's Weekly, maybe I can find work there," Lucy answered, "What about you?"

"Oh, I don't know," Levy answered, "Gajeel…" She abruptly silenced herself, turning red with embarrassment, after realizing what she just said. Lucy just giggled at her friend's discomfort.

"What about you, Erza?" she asked to the red head next to her.

"I'm going to Mermaid Heel," Erza answered simply in her usual stern but kind tone.

"Really?" Lucy asked, cocking her head, "I thought you'd join Crime Sorcière. Especially with him being there." Erza flushed red as at what Lucy implied, before clearing her throat to attempt to cover up her slip, even if both Lucy and Levy saw but fortunately for her, both didn't commit on it.

"Mermaid Heel is a legal guild, with constant job requests," she explained, "I can get steady work there, and be with Millianna. It'll feel nice to stay with her again after so long. Kagura will also be there, and I can't let down my 'little sister'." She said that last part with a twinkle in her eye. All eyes then fell to Wendy, who looked away.

"Well," she said, "I was actually going to talk to Lamia Scale, and see if they'd let me join."

"I'm sure they'll let you join," Lucy said, "You're pretty tough!"

"I don't know about that," Wendy said, wringing her hands, shyly.

"Don't sell yourself short," Carla said from her position in Wendy's arms.

"Do you know where anyone else is going?" Levy asked.

"Not really," Lucy said, "But I'm sure we'll remain in touch."

"I wonder what Natsu will do," Wendy said. Everyone did have to admit they were slightly worried about Natsu. They all knew that he was one of the people who the guild was most important too.

"Well, he'll be fine," Erza said, "It may take a while, but Natsu will learn to adapt. Fairy Tail's gone, we have to move on."

"Yeah, you're right," Lucy as the friends walked on, "But we'll always be together."

What they weren't aware of, was Natsu on the roof, as he listened. They were all leaving. Leaving Fairy Tail-like all the memories and things they done together could just be tossed aside, leaving him- behind like a bad memory. Natsu clenched his fists in a vain attempt to control his anger and feelings of hurt before as he jumped into the air, opened his fire wings, and flapped North, into the mountains.

 **(End Flashback)**

And there Natsu was, sitting in a cave, his head hung, as the events sunk into him. He was angry, but not like he was angry in the past. This anger was primal, and fierce, almost like a fire…no a blazing inferno that burned all within its grasp, never satisfied. And for Natsu, that rage was justified.

At that moment, Natsu was still reeling from the death of his father, who he had to watch get horrendously ripped apart, and then blasted into oblivion by the Black Dragon, Acnologia. He had lost his father, and he could do nothing to help as even Igneel didn't think he could. However, at the time, he had Fairy Tail to go to for solace, a family he could seek comfort with and grow stronger to protect like he always done. And just like that, it was ripped out from under him. The others just walked away, like Natsu was supposed to just move on. But he could not move on just like that. They all had other places to go, things they could to do, Natsu…Natsu had none of that for him. All he had left was his magic, and his comrades, and one of those was seemingly lost to him.

"Igneel was wrong." A familiar voice called, as the cave fell apart around Natsu.

 **(In Natsu's inner world)**

"Smaug…" Natsu said, as he gazed the massive, snake-like dragon loom over him. He was standing in the midst of massive volcanic region, which represented the deepest portions of his being that up a few hours ago, Igneel once inhabited. But the volcanoes were fiercer then any known on in all of Ishgar, all around him they were exploding angrily, blasting lava and black clouds of deadly gas hundreds of feet into the air of his inner world, all the while great wild-fires raged about. However none of that mattered to the boy and dragon, none of it was relevant to them as they both grew up surrounded by fire to a degree they might as well stand in the lava flows.

" **All due respect to Igneel's passing** ," Smaug said with a tone of respect.

"Don't bullshit me," growled out Natsu at the obvious lie.

" **Fine** ," Smaug growled, " **But it doesn't matter. Igneel was wrong just I've been saying all along. He said those people would be your anchors. That they would forever be with you, and keep you from the darkness you face as you defend them. And now they abandon you so readily**."

"They had their reasons," Natsu said, as he tried to hold onto hope for his friends.

" **Which gives them reason to abandon their home?** " Smaug responded, " **To abandon you, while you experience pain like you've never felt before, to leave behind EVERYTHING they've built and move on so carelessly**?" Natsu grabbed onto his head. They had all left him alone, and they did it with so little question, so little doubt.

"No, I can't accept that! I won't accept it!" he said.

" **I only desire what is the best for us** ," Smaug answered, " **Acnologia killed our father. He must be punished…he must die**."

"I will punish him!" Natsu yelled, "I'll turn him to ash!" He yelled even louder than before as the

" **Yes, you will!** " Smaug said, filled with nothing at joy at the prospect of the boy finally doing what he always wished he did. " **But how will you accomplish that as is? You're weak!** " Smaug bellowed, pushing the boy in the direction he wanted to go, farther than ever before.

" **I'm not weak!** " Natsu yelled in frustration, fury, desperation at his other self.

" **Then tell me why you've never been able to do anything against Acnologia!** " Smaug roared, " **Tell me why Mard Geer, a mere DEMON! A FALSE DEMON at that was only barely defeated!"** Natsu let out a roar, as he tried to breathe fire at Smaug, only for it to barely come out as a puff.

" **You have rejected the fire for all this time** ," Smaug said, " **As you have rejected your true nature. That is why you are weak. Those humans have done nothing but to hold you down. And you left them, they casted you aside like you were disposable, as was their home…your home.** " Natsu looked into the smoke, and saw images of the members of Fairy Tail, before each one faded away, one by one. He had rejected Smaug for a long time, so as to protect all of them from him. But now…

" **I'm alone** ," Natsu said softly, as he fell to his knees, " **Igneel is gone, Fairy Tail is gone. I've lost everything**." Natsu sobbed as it all came crashing down on him that he had no-where to turn to.

" **Yes, all else has left you, but you still have one thing** ," Smaug said, as he approached Natsu in the same manner as a snake would, " **You still have your vengeance**." Natsu then saw an image of Acnologia, as he ripped Igneel clean in half, before blowing him to pieces. Natsu's rage built as he watched. The fire surrounding him flared up as well, growing to new heights, burning brighter than ever before.

" _ **Acnologia**_ ," Natsu growled. Suddenly, at this moment, everything else vanished from his thoughts. Only one thing was present: destroy Acnologia, burn the black dragon to the ground and send him to oblivion in the blaze so hot, the heavens will cry out.

"He…. will…," Natsu said slowly, "burn."

" **As will all your enemies!** " Smaug roared to him, shaking the very earth they stood on, " **You need no one else! Your own power, is your greatest ally! Everyone else is a hindrance!** " His chest then flared up.

" **Now tell me, do you accept the fire?** " Natsu turned to face his dragon counterpart.

"I accept the fire." He spoke those words with more conviction that almost anything else he said, with a few exceptions.

"So be it." With that, Smaug let out his fire. Natsu held up his arms, as he let the dragon's fire surround him.

 **(In the real world-five minutes later)**

Natsu rose to his feet, as his fire cloaked his body.

"As of now, I serve myself, and myself alone!" he loudly proclaimed, "I don't need anyone, anymore! With my own two claws, I will rip Acnologia's throat open, and claim for me, the title of Dragon King! And all those who stand in the way of my vengeance will be turned to ash!" With that, the fire flared up, as it completely consumed Natsu, burning _**brighter**_ …burning _**hotter**_ than any fire he had ever produced as he truly allowed the flames of emotions to come out. Within that very same fire, scales grew along Natsu's body, horns grew out of his head, and his fingers turned to claws. His clothes then fell from him in tatters as he grew larger, stronger, more reptile than human.

" **Now, what are you?** " Smaug's voice echoed within the depths of his mind.

"I AM… FIRE!" Natsu roared, "I AM… DEATH!"

The roar of a dragon echoed across the mountains. Announcing the presence of a new, powerful and terrifying force to reckon with.

 **For those of you that recognise the plot of the story, yes this is a re-imaging of 'I see fire in the sky' by snakeboy33 and for those who don't, you should really consider reading it, it's an old one but still a good read as these kinds of stories are rare to come across. As you can see unlike, cannon Natsu has a much more human reaction and response to the fact that good ole' Igneel is torn apart and blasted to ash than he has in cannon which always made me wonder how he was able to just bounce back from. Another human thing he did was to run back to a place he thought would give him time to heal but as you can see from the chapter, that didn't go down very well for him. As you can imagine the next time we see him he will NOT be the same lovable idiot we know and love but someone else…something else (Get what I did there :] ). Also like the original idea, Smaug is just a representation of Natsu's power and darker emotions, hence why he wants Natsu to not only embrace his more dark emotions but gain his own power to carry his plan out rather than rely on others while at the same time. The reason for this is pride as I'll explain in later chapters, this in turn makes him far more volatile and** **malicious then ever but not necessarily evil, think punisher or Moon Knight in that regard..** **Also, I acknowledge the fact that some of the other members may also be OOC in acting so cheerful, but I though it necessary for the benefit of the story as they all were present when Makarov made the declaration for disbandment and are trying to come to terms with that by trying to find something to do, Natsu was not present so to him, they just seem to be leaving, though there's another thing about that I won't yet reveal. Lastly, I also acknowledge Natsu's hypocrisy, with him getting angry about them leaving, while he himself just left on his own, and that Happy is still with him, but I will address that soon.**


	2. A Lot Changers With Time

Chapter 2: A Lot Changers With Time.

 **Two Years Later**

"Another day, another jewel," Lucy said, as she got out of bed, stretching as she did. After that, she headed into her bathroom, showered, made herself presentable, and struck out.

"I'm going to do my best!" she said excitedly. Since becoming a reporter a year and a half ago, work for Lucy had been relatively steady where she made about twice as much as she did in Fairy Tail but she never really enjoyed that. Today, she was supposed to report on the Grand Magic Games this year, but she wasn't that into it as none of the big names had participated since Tartarus, at first it confused her thinking any one of them could easily take the gold but realized that none of them wanted to win in such a manner and came to the conclusion that the whole Tartarus thing showed them that they are bigger things to worry about than some fighting tournament that lost its purpose after the eclipse gate thing with Future Rouge. Nonetheless, Lucy wouldn't be satisfied if she didn't still do her absolute best as she always strived to do.

Eventually, she arrived at the stadium, where she met Jason, and started taking her notes. Even though the match was more than a little lacklustre, and all around not that interesting as what she preferred, Lucy recorded every punch, every kick and every word/taunt thrown for her article. After the games were done for the day, Lucy closed her notepad, and headed out.

"These games weren't anything like those last year," Jason said with a sigh. Apparently Lucy wasn't the only one to be left feeling underwhelmed as for once the hyperactive reporter, now editor of Sorcerer Weekly didn't even yell 'cool' once.

"None of the big name guilds participated," Lucy said, "Quatro Cerberus, Mermaid Heel, Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, Sabretooth, none of them felt the need to from what I can tell." To her boss as she watched the stands empty as people left the stadium.

"Neither Fairy Tail," Jason said, with a smile. Lucy blinked, before smiling sadly.

"Didn't you here?" she asked, "Fairy Tail's been gone for two year now."

"Really?" Jason asked with false surprise with a smile sober grin of his own, "Not cool!"

"Yeah, why do you think I needed the job?" Lucy asked, before quickly adding, "No offense."

"None taken," Jason answered with a shrug, "I don't think you'd ever leave Fairy tail for a job like this." Lucy smiled.

"Well, I'm heading back," she said, "See you tomorrow!" With that, she headed back home. Fairy Tail or underwear model? She thought as she remembered her first job with the magazine. 'Imagine which I one I would've preferred.' She thought to herself as she made her way home.

As she arrived back at her house, Lucy paused, and looked over it. She frowned. It was bigger, and nicer than her one in Magnolia, but it served as a reminder of that Fairy Tail was gone. Sighing, and putting it out of her head, she threw her bag down, and decided to work a little more on a novel. Ironically, after the disbandment, Lucy found a lot more time to work on it, but it wasn't as satisfying as she had hoped. She imagined finishing it, and showing off the published version to everyone in Fairy Tail.

Lucy caught herself getting slightly misty eyed, and she tried to find a way to take her mind off everything. She turned her attention a book she had bought, even though she heard it was phenomenally boring. Nonetheless, there had never been a book Lucy Heartfilia wasn't able to conquer, so she took a stab at it. And while it was very boring, it took the girl's mind off everything, if only briefly.

Later in the evening, Lucy took a bath, as she lay back in the hot water, and thought. Memories came flooding back about the guild. She thought about everyone. Whenever the desire arose to meet with them, which Lucy and the means to do, she always thought of an excuse not to, but each one of those excuses held no water, and Lucy knew it.

"I want to see everyone again!" she cried, pumping her fists.

"Keep it down!" her neighbour yelled through the wall.

"Sorry!"

After her bath, Lucy wrapped a towel around her, and walked into her bedroom. But instead of going onto her bed, or her closet, she went to her wall, where she looked over the massive spread she had of all the Fairy Tail members and their whereabouts. That was one of the reasons Lucy became a reporter, information always found its way to her, so she was able to keep up to date with who was where. There were, however, three (or more accurately six) exceptions. One was Gray, who Lucy had a bit of a lead on, but then it suddenly went cold (no pun intended); then there was Laxus, who Lucy knew would never join a different guild, seeing as Fairy Tail had been in his blood for three generations and despite her first impression of him, she knew he loved the guild with all his heart. Of course, there was the Thunder Legion, but Lucy figured they were all with Laxus, especially since she couldn't imagine Freed leaving his side, so she didn't think much of them.

And then there was Natsu. After Fairy Tail was dissolved, Lucy went looking for him, with the hope of helping him find a job to fill his time, figuring he was probably taken the disbandment the worse. But he had completely disappeared; and not long after that, Happy seemed to vanish as well. Lucy assumed he had went off training or something, but she couldn't find a single trace of him anywhere other than the sighting of a blue cat two weeks after they disbanded. It was like the Dragon Slayer had fallen clean off the face of the earth.

Lucy touched the picture of Natsu, his big, toothy grin on his face, as the girl took a breath, and pressed her forehead against it. She worried about Natsu, knowing what he was capable of when he was sad.

When Lucy eventually went to bed, she had a dream…

 **(Dream)**

Lucy was standing before the gates of the Fairy Tail building, standing prouder than ever. She walked in, and saw everyone in the guild hall, doing what they were likely born to do: party. Lucy teared up at the sight; everything was finally back to normal.

"Lucy!" The girl whirled around, and saw Natsu and Happy standing behind her, both smiling big.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried as she ran towards them, her arms open. Natsu held open his arms to Lucy as well, preparing to receive her.

That was when suddenly, Natsu's eyes turned a blazing golden, like a wildfire. His smile turned into a malicious grin, as his body was suddenly consumed with fire but these weren't like any fire she had ever seen as they burned so hot, that they were a brilliant azure blue, with the cores of the fire blazing as white as burning magnesium. Lucy watched in horror as that fire consumed the entire guild hall, and everyone in it near instantly. She tried to cry out, but she found she couldn't make a sound. A shadow fell over her, and when Lucy slowly turned around, she saw a towering, reptilian form, with the same glowing eyes as Natsu.

" **I stand alone!** " a voice roared, before the fire overwhelmed Lucy.

 **(End Dream)**

Lucy woke up with a gasp, as she held her chest. She was sweating.

"What was that?" she asked herself. It didn't feel like a dream, as it felt so real as those flames actually hurt, they hurt like nothing she had ever felt before. Lucy could truly fell the shadow of the monster, the sheer aura of dominance and power it let out left her shivering up cold sweat in terror. She checked the time, and noticed that it was time to get up anyway. With a sigh, Lucy got up, and headed to do her morning routine. After showing, she quickly did her hair and makeup.

"I'm going to do my best today!" she proclaimed, as part of her daily ritual. However, when Lucy went to open the door, she noticed a letter in her mailbox. She opened it, and took a look.

Dear Lucy,

 _Recent information came in that one of the reasons all the big guilds weren't hear this year, was because they were all sharing a job request to guard some kind of large project in a mountain Northern mountains this year. The Magic Council is there as well, to oversee what's going on. The office would like you to go and report on that, instead of the Games. The mountain is called "Ruby Peak" and is apparently 450km north of Mt. Hakobe, there's a map with directions included in the letter. You're to report on it, and send us an update by Lacrima every two days, until the projects finished. I'm sure this will be really coo…compared to what's going on here anyway._

Signed, Jason

Lucy fished in the envelope, and pulled out a map with directions, leading to the mountain. Well this was unexpected. She was just supposed to drop everything, and head to some random mountain? From the look of its going to take her half a day by rail to get close to Northern mountains and another two days by cart just to reach the place. This seemed a tad strange. But she needed to keep her job, and if her superiors had instructed to do that, than she had to do it.

"Well, I guess I'm going North," she said to herself, as she went back into her house to start packing.

Once she was done, she quickly went to the train station, and jumped on the first train heading in the right direction. As Lucy sat in her seat, and stared out the window, thoughts milled around her mind; she was very nervous. Jason had mentioned that the major guilds were there, as was the Magic Council. As a result, a lot of the former members of Fairy Tail would be there as well.

"Well, I guess I had to do at some point," Lucy said, as she clenched her skirt.

 **There is the 2** **nd** **chapter of this story, as you can see the first change I made to cannon material was that it's been two years rather than one. The reason for this is because as far as I know, Zeref pushed the attack on Ishgar in x792 for two reasons: (1) Due to the fact he wanted to give Natsu one last chance to kill him as he had been monitoring his progress and thought it was the right time, something that would have happened if it wasn't for Happy. (2) Due to the fact that Natsu, Wendy, Erza, Lucy, Gray, Happy, Carla and Mest went to retrieve Makarov was just what he used for the political reasoning to justify to his people. In this AU, Zeref has no idea where Natsu is or what he is doing so he does not know if Natsu is strong enough to kill him or if he's even still in Fiore as Ishgar is a big place so there numerous places Natsu could be, the same applies to Acnologia as without these two factors Zeref knows it would be too risky to attack as they could both appear at any time and place during any large conflict. Due to this, Fairy tail never reforms after a year so Makarov is still in Alvarez Empire discussing peace treaties and such, something the Magic council is aware of. I also changed the time-skip so that I could fit more events and surprises for later within a more reasonable time period as well as Make Natsu stronger as we all saw what he did with just a year, now imagine TWO years.**


	3. Desolation Mountain

**Chapter 3: Desolation Mountain**

 **Ruby Mountain**

Lucy had rode the train for almost 8 hours before she crossed into the mountainous region of Fiore. To be honest, it did feel good to get out of Crocus for once, since she hadn't really left the city since she moved. But now she was heading to Ruby Peak, which she admittedly knew nothing about, she hadn't even heard about it until she got the assignment which to the reporter seemed rather odd but she brushed it off till she got there.

When the train eventually pulled into a station early that evening, Lucy has to transfer to a carriage, since the village that was closest to the mountain could not be reached by rail due the terrain being dangerous for trains, according to the information she got from the local rail crew anyway at least. Going on these vehicles made Lucy think of Natsu, and how miserable he would've been if he was taking this job, bringing a small smile to her face as she thought if all the times he fell sick on transportation.

That in turn, made Lucy think about what Natsu could have done after the disbandment. In all honesty, Natsu's set of skills wasn't very broad as compared to maybe Gray; all he really had going for him was his Dragon Slayer magic, and while it was otherwise unequal as he had proven time and time again, it was solely combat based with very little alternative uses and applications, it was all Natsu could really do. Lucy ran through her head potential jobs for Natsu: bouncer (She couldn't imagine him guarding a building or _'establishment'_ for long period of time without getting bored), bodyguard (too loud and kind-hearted to guard the kind of people that would pay for his protection), soldier (A possibility as he could do the job of a whole platoon and the damage of a whole company but he wasn't one to follow orders), mercenary (that one actually scared her as she couldn't imagine him taking such jibs but when the going gets tough…). The point is that the list wasn't very long. That made Lucy worry, not for Natsu's physical well-being (he had great survival skills), but for his emotional well-being. She sighed, as she stared out the window at the mountainous slopes as she was taken deeper and higher into the mountain range.

"I hope you're safe," she said sadly.

 **(The next day around noon)**

After over a day of travel, Lucy saw the mountain, and she was underwhelmed to say the least. When she heard "Ruby Mountain", she imagined a massive, crimson red mountain that shined in the sunlight like a beacon. While the mountain was big, it wasn't anything grand. It was tall, standing well over 800ft taller than the closest peaks and fairly thin compared to the fatter, wider peaks surrounding it. It had what looked like a pointed tip, it seemed to be out on its own as it was located in this deep indentation like valley between two other peaks that stretched about 2km across; it gave a very lonely, isolated impression even if it was taller than any other peak in the surrounding area.

Lucy was dropped off in a village that was by an enormous lake, she shivered from the cold but fortunately she decided to dress warm when she heard she could be in the mountains. She paused for a time to take a look over it. The lake was so large, that Lucy could only barely see the other side. Littered about the lake, she assumed were fishing boats. She could also spot some floating chunks of ice in the water but she already knew there might be some, in fact she was surprised that there wasn't much snow around even though the valley was around 1000ft higher than Mt Hakobe, even if it was summer that was strange. She decided to make it was best to make a quick report on the town so she could find an inn to set up shop for her assignment, during which she learned the village was named Egora, she thought it important since it was in the shadow of the mountain Lucy was due to report on. After interviewing a couple of townsfolk, Lucy found she didn't learn much though. Just that this place was a fishing/mining village that had been there for generations, apparently they mined coal mostly with some small copper mines in the area as well. However, one man had more to say than others.

"I hate the idea of people going into that mountain," he said, "That Mountain is scared and those people dare to desecrate it for their own gains." Lucy had met the man by the docks, while he was working on his fishing boat. He didn't seem pleased to be interrupted from his work, but he was polite enough.

"Why do you mean by that?" Lucy asked, as she scribbled her notes. The man, who looked to be in his sixties or so, was silent, as he cringed for a moment.

"There's some kind of air about that peak," he explained, "The mountain used to be an active volcano till about 2 years ago which helped keep this place from completely freezing over in the winter but there's always this feeling of wrath, despair, and pain radiating off of it, like its hiding some kind of a great, monstrous force but it always offered us good mining and a means to keep warm and comfy so high up in these here mountains with its now seemingly unlimited coal mines." Lucy made a face. This place was sounding better and better.

"How so?" Lucy questioned as she knew coal wasn't something found in great numbers in Fiore.

"We always mined it for coal to keep warm but over time mines kept running dry, we were on the last on but for some reason, the old coal mines have started to yield even more of the stuff, even though we thought they were long depleted, so much so that some big-name mining guild wants to get a cut of it was well" the man continued, "IF you ask me the mountain itself has mad as we always took just what we needed but now those fools are taking coal and all the other wealth out by the cartload daily, they may come to regret that decision."

"Other wealth?" Lucy asked again as it was beginning to turn into something good.

"Yeah I thought you knew, they found a whole deposit of the most beautiful rubies you would ever see, along with some garnet, Copper, Gold, Diamonds and Obsidian." He told her as he finished up his prep and jumped into his boat, signalling to her he was done talking.

"Thank you for your time," Lucy said, as she began to walk away, feeling even more excited as she now had a chance to document a whole new mining operation. Something she knew Jason would love to do as things like this tend to get the front page, she was sure that the small village would grow in a few years to accommodate this new industry but at the same time the fisherman's words still echoed in her mind as she couldn't imagine what would scare the locals so much about a mountain…right

"There's one more thing you should know," the man said just she reached the other side of the small wooden pier.

"What's that?" Lucy asked, looking back.

"Over the course the years, that mountain has had three names, it was originally called the Summit of Isolation, since the place is barren, and lonely," the man explained, "It was only renamed Ruby Mountain about a week ago."

"Then what was the third name?" The man's face turned dark, and his eyes darted around, as if someone was listening in on them.

"About a two ago…give or take, the mountain's plain, dull aura turned into the one I mentioned earlier, and people started staying clear of it. It was at that time, that it got its second name….."

 **(At the mountain)**

Lucy was starting to really not like the mountain. While she'd been bothered by the whole dark aura thing, she figured it, and the mountain's general reputation, was all nothing but superstition up by their ancestors to stop the villagers from taking too much from the mountain and drying it up, but when she arrived at the base of the mountain, where the entrance into it was, Lucy found herself singing a different tune so to speak as there was indeed a dark aura amongst her, one that felt spiteful, and angry. Lucy couldn't help but shiver, but she knew she had a job to do, so she headed towards the gates, after showing her identification, and her permission to be there as a journalist..

Around her, there were construction crewmen, with massive scaffolds, tools, and carts, like there was some kind of mining operation going on. The entrance into the cave was of decent size, enough for a carriage or two to make its way into the cavern. Lucy even saw rails of some kind, making it seem even more like a mining operation. Her thoughts were confirmed when she got into the main chamber. She was so overwhelmed she nearly collapsed in amazement.

Inside was an enormous cavern, so big one could fit about the whole Crocus GMG stadium in. The ceiling was well over 20m above the ground, and the open area below was massive. At the far edge on the other side of the room, was an enormous black pit, which looked very deep.

Down on the floor, she saw workers going to and fro, pushing around carts, which Lucy noticed were filled to the brim with all kinds of gemstone. Upon closer inspection, Lucy noticed they were all rubies, garnet and diamonds, with rubies being the most as there were hundreds upon hundreds of them. Diamonds being the least but still impressive as one looked big enough to big Lucy's whole apartment building and have change to furnish it.

"There has to be a fortune down there," she said. Heck, it was probably even more than that. Lucy climbed down a ladder to the base of it all, and she started walking around. That was when she saw them all.

The five major guilds were assembled around in a camp like area, as they hung out, not apparently doing much. In Quatro Cerberus, Lucy saw Cana drinking with Bacchus, while Elfman cheered Cana on. It wasn't that surprising that Cana joined Quatro Cerberus, but from what Lucy heard, she was the guild's first female member. Over with Blue Pegasus, Lucy saw Mirajane and Lisanna. With Lamia Scale, Wendy was talking with Chelia, and sitting next to her was a girl with white hair, and a white tail, something Lucy found slightly weird. And finally, there was Erza, sitting with the members of Mermaid Heel. There was, of course, Sabertooth, the only guild no former Fairy Tail member joined.

Lucy also noticed that the Magic Council was there as well. There she saw Gajeel, Levy, and Pantherlily standing in here uniforms alongside some rune knights they appeared to be listening to as one appeared to be giving some kind of report to Levy. The blonde took a deep breath, before stepping into the camp. The moment she entered, eyes went to her, as Lucy moved through. For a time, she was really nervous, but then…

"Lucy!" several voices said at once. Lucy was suddenly tackled in a hug by what turned out to be and overjoyed Mirajane.

"Mira?" Lucy in surprise.

"We missed you so much!" the takeover mage said, as she looked at Lucy with tears in her eyes.

"I thought we told you not to be a stranger!" Lisanna said, as she pushed her sister off, pulled Lucy up, and hugged her as well.

"Well, I've been busy," Lucy said, "Lately, Sorcerer Weekly's got me going all over the place." That was an excuse, but Lucy didn't have any good reason.

"Don't give us that!" Cana said as she walked up and put her hand on Lucy's head, "Don't tell me you forgot us!"

"Of course not!" Lucy said, shaking her head, "I'd never forget any of you!" Cana smiled at her, before taking her own turn to hug her.

"It's good to see you again," she said.

"A real man is one who stays in contact with his friends!" Elfman said loudly as he approached before being smacked by Lisanna for calling Lucy a man.

"Lu!" Levy said, as she ran over to her from her position, Gajeel following while Lilly told the Rune Knights to leave or something as they all left to do who knows what.

"Levy!" Lucy said, as the two embraced, "You really did end up joining the Magic Council! Going with Gajeel?" Levy flushed red as she pushed back.

"I needed work," Levy said quickly, "This pays well, and I enjoyed helping after the last council was destroyed."

"Keep telling yourself that," Lucy said.

"Yo, Bunny Girl!" Gajeel said as he took his seat with the rest of them, Then she saw Wendy walking up to her, her eyes on the ground.

"Hello, Lucy," she said nervously. Lucy smiled, before she hugged Wendy close.

"Don't act so shy," she said, "You know me." Wendy quickly hugged Lucy as well.

"I missed you," she said.

"You too," Lucy answered, before looking around, "Where's Carla?"

"Can't you see?" Carla's voice said. Lucy looked in the direction, and saw the white haired girl with a tail.

"Wha…," Lucy asked before it clicked in her head as she knew very little people with white her but only one with a white tail, this did leave many questions to be answered as she didn't know Carla could do that.

"I'll explain later," Carla said, smiling, "I had a feeling you'd be coming back soon."

"Lucy!" an all too familiar voice called out. Lucy let out a yelp, as an armoured hand fell on her shoulder. The next thing she knew, her head was slammed into a steel breastplate.

"Hi, Erza," Lucy said in somewhat of a daze, but she couldn't help but smile. Doing all this, made her realize how long it had been.

 **(Later)**

Much of the remaining day was spent with the former Fairy Tail members catching up about what they'd been doing the past year. Lucy found out that until she showed up, none of them had really interacted with each other. Levy commented that Lucy was like the knot that tied them.

"So how have the other guilds been?" Lucy asked.

"Blue Pegasus is great," Mirajane said with a smile, "Everyone's really nice!"

"Though we did have to get used to the men constantly hitting on us," Lisanna said.

"Quatro Cerberus supplies me with booze," Cana said, "So I've got no complaints."

"Quatro Cerberus is manly!" Elfman said proudly.

"Don't you mean wild?" Lucy asked.

"Don't get the boys started, "Cana said.

"Aside from all the really embarrassing shows I had to do with Chelia," Wendy said, "Lamia Scales' been really fun!"

"Mermaid Heel has also been quite pleasant," Erza said, "Its good to be with Millianna again as well!"

Lucy listened as each member listed off their experience so far with different guilds and jobs, and finally the question fell to her.

"Well, its good to write," Lucy said, "Though I imagine you've all seen my magazine spreads."

"Yes," Erza said, as she reached into her armour, and pulled out a copy of Sorcerer weekly, with a half-naked Lucy on it, "I've collected every copy!" Lucy flushed as red as Erza's hair as they all laughed at her expense, something she found she didn't mind.

"That's really embarrassing," she said.

"I know how it feels," Wendy said.

While the friends caught up, their current guild mates watched.

"Its good seeing all of them back together," Chelia said, "It feels like old times."

"It sure does, but I've got to wonder where Gray is," Lyon commented.

"Erzy looks really happy!" Millianna said, with a smile.

"She better not lose sight of what our task is," Kagura said, as she sat with her sword in her lap.

"This is Erza we're talking about," Risley said, "She never does that."

"Men! Seeing our lovely white haired ladies with all those other beauties forms an unmatchable parfume!"

"Seeing Elfman and our girl gets my spirit rumbling!"

"Wild!"

"To think Fairy Tail would be back," Yukino piped up.

"It's too early to say they're back," Rogue said, being the voice of reason, "They're just all in the same place."

"Still, it would be great seeing Fairy Tail back together, it would mean we could go back to the games," Sting said. Minerva looked at Lucy, as she wrung her hands, and stared at the ground uncomfortably.

Back with the group, Lucy decided to ask about the others.

"What about Gray or Juvia?" she asked, "Or Laxus and the Thunder Legion?"

"Last I heard, Laxus and his posse were down in the South, doing god knows what," Cana answered, "Probably training or something."

"I don't know about Gray and Juvia?" Levy said, "I was curious so I looked them up in Council records, but couldn't find any information."

"Knowing Juvia she's probably with Gray," Carla said, "She'd probably go insane if she was away for him for five seconds." Lucy giggled at that, but then it came for the big question.

"What about Natsu?" All eyes were immediately on her.

"We thought he was with you," Erza said, sounding surprised.

"Why would you think that?"

"Well, because…," Wendy trailed off.

"You know why," Cana said bluntly. Lucy decided to ignore that comment.

"No he's not," she said, frowning.

"Now that you mention it," Gajeel said, from his place in back, "I haven't got a bead on Salamander anywhere. I even used some connections in the Council to look around for him, but nothing. He's fallen clean off the grid, not so much as a sucpected sighing of him or the cat."

"Well the chances are that where-ever Natsu is, Happy is bound to be nearby," Carla mentioned. Lucy clenched her skirt.

"I'm really worried about Natsu," she said, "This isn't like him."

"You're right," Lisanna said, "He wouldn't isolate himself the way he seems to be doing now."

"And a job like this is something he would definitely be all over," Elfman said, "He's a real man!"

"Come to think of it," Lucy said, hoping to change the subject, "What is all this? I don't see why a mining operation would need all these powerful guilds, and the Magic Council."

"Well, it's more than just a mining operation," Pantherily explained, "There's talk that these rubies aren't regular rubies. It's said that among them, are a select few with magical properties. Powerful ones at that, we found on that had around 2500mp found in it, that's more than most A-Class mages."

"Yikes," Lucy said, that sounded like trouble just waiting to happen.

"And there's talk that some dark organization is plotting to get them," Levy said, "So the Magic Council assigned us, and the guilds to keep an eye on things."

"Must be really powerful it takes all of you," Lucy said, before slamming her fist into her palm, "That reminds me!" She pulled out her notepad.

"The whole reason I came here! I have to report on the operation going on here! Can I interview everyone?"

"Knock yourself out," Cana said with a smile, and everyone concurred, though Gajeel took some persuading by Levy. With that, Lucy began interviewing everyone, going around the guilds, the Council, and some of the workers. Eventually, her last interview, somehow, turned out to be Erza. When Lucy was done with her, she paused.

"What do you think happened to Natsu?" she asked slowly. Erza sighed sadly.

"I don't know," the knight answered, "I'm also worried about him. I think out of everyone, he took the disbandment the hardest. It was the only home he had ever known." Lucy clenched her notepad.

"Do you feel something about this mountain?" she asked. Erza looked around, and then at that pit, narrowing her eyes.

"I do. There's something dark about this mountain," she explained, "There's a general feeling of rage, and grief. I don't know what, but it's still there for sure."

"That pit is really disturbing," Lucy said, taking an instinctive step back, "What's down there?"

"No one knows," Erza answered, "No one has been brave enough yet to go diving in there as they see flashes of light every now and then along a blast of hot air. The crew plans on mining all the rubies up here, before checking down there. I just think some of the magma flows are still active and every now and then you can see some at the bottom" Lucy looked nervously at the pit. She could see Wendy and Chelia standing near it, throwing rocks at it to pass the time.

"Erza?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know that this mountain used to be called something different?"

"And what would that be?"

"The Smoking Peak."

One the rocks Chellia threw, bounced down into the chasms deep beneath the mountain. Eventually, it fell into another, massive, open chamber. Within that chamber, was a sea of brilliant rubies and garnet the size of footballs, they filled the entire room. The stone clattered to the bottom, before it, itself, turned into a ruby. At that moment, the rubies shifted briefly, as if something massive was beneath them.

 **That's another chapter done as we got more information the mountain and Lucy finally sees her old guild-mates again. The whole gems and coal thing will be explained in time I assure you but I know most of you already figured how what in down in the pit…or should I say who? I know that the fairy tail members all left to do their own thing as Hiro doesn't say much about what they did in the one year skip but here they all went to guilds that suited them as they needed work and wanted to be around people they can get along with. Don't you worry Gray, Juvia, the Thunder Legion and Laxus will get here soon but no as of yet so cool your jets. Next chapter we're gonna see some fighting so buckle up and get ready.**


	4. The Calm before the storm

_Chapter 4: The Calm before the storm_

 **(On the other side of a neighbouring mountain peak, west of Mt Ruby)**

In an area west of the Ruby Peak, there was a sizable forest on the other side of a neighbouring peak that nobody ever went into. Not because it was scary or dark, but because there wasn't anything interesting about. It was just a regular forest.

At one place, deep within the forest, there was a large camp. It had dozens of smaller tents, all of them black, with a strange symbol on them. At the centre of said camp, was a massive tent that looked more like a house. Within said tent, was a table, with a number of people assembled around it.

"The age of dark guilds has ended," the man at the head said. He was wearing priestly robes, with a strange metallic mask on his face.

"The time of Avatar is now," he said, "And within this time of change, we will create the perfect world. The world of lord Zeref." Around the others, echoed words of "For Zeref". At one end of the table, sat a young man with black hair, and red eyes. Along his left arm, left of his torso, and left side of his face, were black markings.

"For Zeref," Gray said with a dark grin.

 **(In the mountain)**

Lucy had been intending on renting a room at an inn in Egora, and spent her time not working there. However, her friends all insisted on Lucy staying with them. They pitched her a tent of her own (they all slept in their respective guild tents), and gave her a sleeping cot. When Lucy lay down on it, she was surprised to find it wasn't as uncomfortable as she thought it would be, and she tried to sleep.

But try as she might, she couldn't get any sleep. She couldn't escape from feeling of the mountain, as if it was burrowing into her skin. Lucy let out a sigh, as she got out of bed, put her shoes on, and walked around the cavern. Most of the others were asleep as well, with some of the mining crew laying in sleeping bags on the ground, leaving the place as quiet as a church mouse.

As she wandered, Lucy looked over at the massive black pit. There she saw Wendy sitting by the edge, with Carla (back in cat form), sleeping in her lap. Lucy walked over to her.

"Can't sleep?" she asked. Wendy briefly flinched at the surprise of Lucy's voice.

"Lucy!" she said. The blonde giggled.

"Sorry to scare you," she said, before sitting beside Wendy, "I asked if you couldn't sleep?" The Sky Dragon Slayer shook her head.

"No," she answered, "Its just…" She trailed off, and Lucy put her hand on her shoulder.

"You can tell me anything." Wendy clenched her fists.

"I didn't want to say this in front of the others at Lamia Scale," she said, "But I miss Fairy Tail." Lucy smiled sadly, as she folded her hands in her lap.

"I know, I miss it to," she said.

"Lamia Scale is really good, and all the people there are really nice to me," Wendy said quickly, before looking down, "But…"

"You miss Natsu, don't you?" Lucy said. Wendy nodded slightly, as tears built in the corner of her eyes.

"I had been planning to go to Lamia Scale, but I wanted to ask Natsu to come with me," she said, "I knew he wouldn't want to, but I was really hoping he would." Lucy listened sadly. She knew that Natsu and Wendy's relationship was essentially big brother-little sister in all but name, and Wendy really looked up to Natsu. No doubt his disappearance was really hard on the poor girl.

"Sometimes I wonder if should have just stayed with Natsu," Wendy said, "Maybe he wouldn't have disappeared."

"Natsu's an idiot, "Lucy said, "You can't blame yourself for him acting as such." However, Wendy still didn't feel better. Lucy didn't find herself feeling that good either, as she sighed, and looked down at the pit. It the darkness, it seemed even more ominous, which lead Lucy to wonder something.

"Why are you sitting here?" she asked, "This pit is really creepy."

"I know," Wendy said with a nod, "But there's something about this feeling. It may be angry, and even kind of vindictive, but there's something else in it." Wendy reached into her pocket, and pulled out a ruby. Lucy noticed that despite it being presumably mind, it seemed to already be cut, something that was strange.

"And what would that be?"

"This feeling, it's sad," Wendy said, as she looked over the ruby, "Whatever is giving off this feeling, feels very hurt, and wronged." Lucy paused, as she looked down into the pit. Now that Wendy mentioned, there was a sense of sorrow that came from the feeling.

"What could it be?" she asked.

"I don't know," Wendy answered. The two sat in silence for a while longer, just staring into the black pit, before Lucy took a breath, and pulled Wendy to her feet.

"Let's try and get some sleep," she said, "There's nothing we can do about it for now."

"Alright," Wendy said, as she followed Lucy back into the camp, after dropping the ruby down into the pit. It made a resonating echo that seemed to go across the entire cavern.

( **The next day** )

After waking up, Lucy realized she at another reason she wanted to stay at the inn, was the inn had showers and baths. So she was understandably dismayed the next morning, until Mirajane pointed her to portable showers that everyone used. Lucy was very relieved at that. After getting cleaned and dressed, Lucy decided to continue her work. She interviewed some of the miners this time, and found out that a business man was running the whole operations. When she asked about him, however, she was shot down, so she dropped it.

To her surprise, Lucy found out that Jura was present. According to Levy, he was present as the member of the Magic Council to oversee this. With that, Lucy headed to where he was, at the highest cliff, overseeing.

"Ms. Lucy!" Jura greeted respective, smiling at her approach, "It has been a while, and how have you been?"

"I've been well," Lucy answered, smiling back.

"You should know that if I had been a Council member 2 years ago, I would never have approved Fairy Tail's disbandment," Jura said firmly, "They've done nothing but good for the magic world."

"Thank you," Lucy said smiling back, "I was wondering if I could interview you for Sorcerer Weekly?"

"I'd be genuinely honoured." With that, Lucy began the interview with him.

"Why would you say this project is going on?" she asked.

"Initially, it was just a project by Marketh Anglo, that started about a month or so ago" Jura answered, and noticing Lucy's face, "Yes, quite a strange name. But word spread that one of the rubies had been giving off strange light. I took it upon myself to investigate, the council chambers can get so dull, and found that said ruby held a strange form of magic. Further study lead me to realize that other rubies that had been discovered shared this magic. I could not identify what the magic was, only that it was old, and powerful, and that they were being found continuously. I realized the potential danger, so I decided to spare no expense, in ensuring that these rubies were properly protected." Lucy was impressed by all this, though she thought there may have been another reason.

"And I also wished to see all the former members of Fairy tail back together," Jura said, with a twinkle in his eye, "You should know I actually requested you to be the reporter." Lucy flushed red, before clearing her throat slightly.

"So what's happening to the magic rubies?" Lucy asked. Jura pointed with his staff, over to three carts full of gems not far from where was standing.

"They are collected there, to be shipped to the Council headquarters for study," he explained.

"Now this next question is one I'm wondering about," Lucy said, "Where did these rubies come from? I heard in Egora that it wasn't always called 'Ruby Mountain'."

"That is quite the question," Jura said, frowning, "Apparently one day they just popped into existence."

"Do you think it has something to do with the magic rubies?"

"Without a doubt. It's just the connection we all need to find. I'm confident we'll find our answer in the pit." Lucy closed the notepad.

"Well, that's everything," she said, "Thank you for everything!"

"I should be thanking you," Jura said, smiling warmly, "It's good to see all of Fairy Tail together again."

"Well, we're not really together, we're just in the same place," Lucy said, looking down. Jura frowned at that, but he figured this was a personal topic of her, so he decided against pursing it. Lucy then took her leave, and walked back down the level. There, she sat on the rocks, and watched everyone go about their activities.

 **(That evening)**

The day proved really boring. Lucy and hoped maybe someone would dive into the pit, and see what the heck was down there. It was driving Lucy crazy, and if she weren't so afraid, she's dive in as well.

After reviewing her notes, writing a detailed review, and contacting her boss via lacrima, Lucy was ready for bed. However, unable to sleep again, she instead found herself staring at the tent ceiling. Since Wendy mentioned the sad feeling, that was all Lucy could feel; the anger and despair had been replaced by that feeling of hurt and sorrow. It was reasonably safe to think that this thing that was giving off this feeling had been hurt, badly from the feel of it. She looked at ruby she'd been given by one of the workers who was probably trying to flirt with her.

True, the ruby looked quite beautiful, being a blood red that seemed to go deep into the gem, but there was something about the ruby itself. The same feeling seemed to be irradiating off of it. Maybe the rubies are the source? Lucy thought.

"Well, one way or another, I ain't keeping this," she said, as she tossed the ruby away. However, the moment the ruby hit the ground there was a huge explosion sound, that knocked Lucy off her bed.

"The hell!" Lucy said, as she quickly ran out of her tent. She saw that others running towards the sound.

"What's going?" she asked Erza as the mage ran by with her guild.

"We don't know!" Erza answered, "But we're going to find out! Come on!" Lucy ran with Mermaid Heel towards the sound.

"Who would come here? Bandits?" Beth asked.

"Don't forget that some of these rubies are magic," Araña said, "It could be a dark guild desiring them."

"Whoever they are, we'll stop them!" Kagura said, putting her hand on her sword.

"That's my little sister!" Erza said, flashing a smile.

"Please not now!" Kagura said, flushing red.

As the woman neared the sight, and that's when they saw the battle. A massive amount of soldiers, dressed in black robes, with a symbol of their cloaks, had charged into the cavern.

"Who are they?" Millianna asked.

"Enemies, that's who!" Erza said, "Mermaid Heel, to battle!" With that, she led the charge of mermaids into combat.

Lucy briefly needed a moment to take in everything that was happening. The Rune Knights were engaging much of the dark mages. Lucy looked around, and saw all the mages doing their thing.

Gajeel was at the brunt of the fight for the Magic Council, leading the Rune Knights in combat, giving his men a rally point to fight with while Levy was in the back, giving orders, and occasionally using her **Solid Script Magic** to knock away some overzealous dark mages. Pantherlily was with Levy, protecting her while keeping a look-out.

Quatro Cerberus was doing their thing, like berserkers almost. Lucy noticed Bacchus and Cana working in conjunction, with Cana activating her cards, and putting them on Bacchus' palms. She actually remembered that Cana and Bacchus formed a team called the "Drunken Duo" from the newspapers articles she gathered. Elfman was also doing a lot of fighting in his **beast soul** form.

Mirajane and Lisanna had been empowered by Ichiya's perfume (or was it "parfume", Lucy could never tell it was something completely different), and were fighting hard in their own right with Mira blasting her way through whole groups while Lisanna picked them up with her **Animal Soul: Owl** and dropping them on their allies, acting like a dive bomber.

Sabertooth was doing its thing as it always did, though Lucy did have to admit it was weird seeing Minerva fight on their side, but she wasn't complaining. If there was one person good to have on your side, Minerva was one of them.

In Lamia Scale, Lucy said that apparently Carla was using her **Transformation magic** as a means of being able to fight in her own right. Chelia and Wendy were working together in their "Sky Sisters" team.

Probably out of all of them, Mermaid Heel was probably working together the best. All of the woman seemed to be completely in synch, with Risley or Beth stunning the opponent, giving time for Millianna or Araña time to entrap them, and Erza or Kagura would finish the job.

It made Lucy sad.

Outside of their current guilds, none of the former Fairy Tail members were working together. They were completely focused on their own guilds. Lucy figured she couldn't fault them for that, but still. As an enemy charged Lucy, the blonde decided to enter the fray as well.

"Lucy!" Erza called, as she went to go assist her friend. However, Lucy pulled out her keys, and summoned Loke, who quickly incapacitated the man.

"Star Dress: Leo Form!" Lucy said, slamming her key into her chest, as she entered her Star Dress form. That surprised Erza.

"Is that re-quip magic?"

"Not exactly," Lucy said with a thumbs up, before kicking up, "Regulus Lucy Kick!" This sent another charging guy flying, which surprised Erza again. ' _I guess I've been underestimating her all this time after all, two years is a long time to grow stronger even if her job doesn't require figthing'_ she thought with a smile, _'I suppose I never do learn.'_

Up on a cliff, a woman with slicked hair and dark skin, entered with a man with thick shaggy hair, and pale skin.

"Quite the chaos down there," the woman said, "Shall we join them, Jerome?"

"No need," the man, Jerome, answered, "Don't forget, Briar, this is just a way of gauging the strength."

The fighting continued, as the roar of battle rattled around the cave walls, creating a tremendous amount of noise.

"Stop!"

For some reason, everyone heard that, as the fighting abruptly stopped. For the former Fairy Tail members, that voice was very familiar.

"Is that…," Lisanna began. She looked towards the pit, and saw a larger than normal blue cat flying at them.

"Happy!" Lucy, Carla, and Wendy yelled together.

"You've got to stop fighting!" Happy cried as he flew through the ranks, "You'll wake him up!"

"Why did you stop! Attack!" Jerome ordered. The followers quickly resumed their attack.

"Happy!" Lucy called.

"Lucy?" Happy said, as he looked, and indeed saw the blonde, "Lucy!" He flew to Lucy, who caught him, and held him her arms.

"Kitty!" Millianna said, as she tried to grab Happy, only for her to be held back by Risley.

"What are you doing here?" Lucy asked, "Where's Natsu!"

"Please! Stop!" Happy begged, "He just wants to be left alone!"

"What are you talking about?" Lucy asked, "Who are going to wake up?" But Happy wasn't listening.

"If you wake him up, he won't care who's here, he'll kill everyone here, nothing can stop him!"

 **(In the pit)**

The sound of the conflict resonated through the lower chamber, the echoing making it incredibly distinct. The rubies that covered the floor lay still for a time, before all of a sudden…

There was a huge snort as the rubies exploded outward, revealing a massive nostril, with steam leaking out of it. The rubies then shifted, as there were the makings of a reptilian head, with black scales, with a massive closed eye.

At that moment, the lid opened, revealing an enormous silted eye. A deep, rumbling growl sounded out.

 **Well 'He's awake so some serious stuff is gonna happen next, like the original story Avatar is the dark guild we are working with but their stronger than cannon as they had an extra year to build up their ranks. I also chose them as Gray and Juvia are going to make their appearance soon enough. You will also see just why Happy doesn't think any of them can stop 'him' in his rampage as in most stories, some dumb knight wakes up a dragon then fights him because it's seems to be evil but no-one likes to be woken up, especially by some stranger who is most likely stealing from you as I hope that the guilds are ready for a fight.**


	5. King of the Mountain

**Chapter 5: King of the Mountain**

"Will that cat shut up!" Kagura said as she cut down another enemy, "I can't concentrate with his whining!"

"What's going on, Happy?" Erza asked, "Who'll kill everyone?"

A deep growl suddenly reverberated across the caverns. Everyone stopped fighting, as the growl seemed to make the ground shake.

"What's that?" Briar said, as she looked around. A look of pure dread fell over Happy's face, shocking all the former Fairy tail members as they had never seen him look so scared in their lives.

"Its too late, he's awake," he said.

"Enough with the pronouns!" Lucy yelled, "Who's awake?" However, before Happy could answer, there was a slight boom, followed closely by another, and then another. It was if something massive was approaching. The pit then began to glow slightly.

"There's something in the pit!" Sting said. Everyone stared at the pit, and indeed, the sounds were coming from the pit, as the glow slowly got brighter. A shadow appeared within the glow, followed closely an enormous, four fingered claw.

"By Zeref," Jerome said in shock.

"What is that thing?" Jenny called out.

"It's so big," Chelia said.

It was that something else emerged. A massive head, attached to a long neck. A second clawed hand emerged, and grabbed another rock further up. As it rose, its back was turned to them, but then its head turned, and everyone looked at the creature's face. Giving everyone a better look of it. It was far by near one of the biggest creatures any of them had laid their eyes one. Standing around 25ft tall on all four of its massive limbs. Its body was mainly covered with pitch black scales with the lower body, specifically its stomach, the inner portions of the long tail, and legs, were beige in colour. It had noticeable scars on his stomach and neck, with the largest one, a cross-shaped scar on the left side of his abdomen and another on the right side of his neck. Its back had numerous Golden spikes, reaching down from the back to the end of his tail as well it had numerous diamond like crystals sticking out of its body with one large one dead centre of its chest, another slightly smaller one above that one, two equally sized one to the sides of the centre one, both even smaller than the last and finally the smallest one about twice the size of her fist, directly below the main crystal. The rest were much smaller at around the size of Lucy's fist and were arranged into a sort of diamond shield along both forearms, sides of the neck, the tips of each 'finger' of the wings and the crown of the head, the ones covering the 'finger tips' were coned shaped and appeared to grow out of the fingers in the same fashion as claws out of the fingers. The creature also had a triangular head with horns, a pair of large, snake-like eyes eyes with yellow sclera which were glowing like a wildfire. It also sported extremely sharp looking teeth in jaw permanently set to a scowl, its claws had long, sharp, crimson nails with a pair of bat-like wings with beige coloured webbing between the fingers. The beast appeared to walk on four legs.

"That's not possible," Rogue said as he took in the sight.

"It… it can't be," Gajeel whispered at a loss for words.

"That's a…," Lisanna said, covering her mouth. Everyone there knew what it was, but nobody believed it.

"A dragon," Wendy murmured.

Sure enough, it was a massive dragon, something that no one expected, or thought possible as dragons were thought to be gone, wiped from the face of the earth, save for Acnologia. And yet one stood right before them.

For what was probably only a few seconds, but seemed like an eternity, the dragon looked at the dozens of people assembled there, as if sizing them up. Its eyes scanned the crowd, with the dust in the air forming beams coming from the eyes. Then it opened its mouth.

" **TRESPASSERS!** "it roared, " **GREEDY THIEVES!"** It then leapt backward, and landed on the ground before the people, fully emerging from the pit, revealing a long tail, at twice the length of its body, giving it a total length from head to tail of 115ft. The dragon leaned back, as its mouth began to glow a bright blue as well as the smallest crystal on its chest.

"Look out!" Gajeel yelled. With a roar, the dragon's mouth blasted out a torrent of fire. The people scattered to avoid the flames, as much of the scaffolding and mining equipment was lit on fire. Leaving everyone stunned, not at the fact he breathed fire but by the fact that the fire burned azure, giving off a heat so intense even those in the backlines begun to sweat.

"It's a fire dragon, a powerful one at that!" Rogue said.

"Just like Natsu!" Wendy said. The dragon stomped forward, crushing those unfortunate enough to be in its path underfoot, never caring to check whether they be Rune knight or Dark mage. It let out another blast of azure fire, which consumed a multitude of people, leaving nothing but ask of them. Its tail begun to glow azure, before being enveloped in blue flames as it lashed out, sending people careening away, smashing into walls and scaffolding with serious burns. The dragon then held up its head, let out a roar.

" **I am King of this Mountain**!" it loudly proclaimed, " **It, and all that is within it, belong to me! I won't let thieves and fools take what's mine!** " It bellowed before it raked its claws across the wall, tearing up the scaffolding, before sweeping its claws across the ground, sending the carts with rubies flying away into them, killing those unfortunate enough to be hit by carts filled with gems. Several of the Rune Knights and dark mages tried to fire attacks at the dragon, only for them to harmlessly bounce off the dragon's scales in the same manner as pebbles against steel walls.

"No don't you idiots, your only anger him!" Gajeel yelled at his men, hoping their take listen and flee but before they could, he noticed the pointless attacks had gained its attention as he head moved to face them, freezing them in fear as they gazed into the dragon's eye.

" **You DARE strike ME? Burn you humans!** " The dragon raged as it breathed in some air through its nostrils, enough so that the mages could actively hear it before spat out high pressure jets of an odd looking clear liquid that stuck to their clothes and bodies, sadly for them, Levy realized that the liquid was its ethanol a second too late as the heat of the surrounding fires caused the liquid to ignite, slowly burning them alive. Lucy was stuck still by their screams as they begged for someone to do something before the dragon crushed them under foot before spitting ethanol already existing fires, causing explosions and fore the heat of the cave to rise even higher, causing some pass out from heat stroke. This chain reaction set most of the mining equipment on fire in the process, providing a nightmarish backdrop to the overpowered and frightened humans and wizards. Wendy, decided to take it upon herself to communicate with the dragon and ran to face it.

"Wendy!" Chelia cried out to her friend who continued to dash towards the clearly angered dragon.

"Wait!" Wendy cried as she reached it. The dragon stopped, as it looked down at Wendy, who fell to her knees in submission.

"Please forgive us!" Wendy cried, "We did not know this was your home! We'd never steal from you!"

"Wendy's right!" Chelia said, as she came up to her friend's side, "We aren't thieves!"

"We beg for your pardon!" Erza said, as she also bowed, though only one knee, "Please, great serpent of fire, let us leave! We will take nothing with us!" Voice of agreement echoed across the guilds as others also bowed in submission to the beast while the rest went to assist the wounded and exhausted to their feet. For a time, the dragon stared at the people, the only sounds being the crackling of the raging fires and laboured breathes of the civilians.

"He's calming down," Lucy said softly.

"No," Happy said slowly he look of dread only growing, "He's getting angrier." Lucy looked to question that, but then she saw something in the dragon's eyes. Its eyes glowed brighter, as it stared down at the guilds, and it began to tremble again.

" **You…,"** it growled, before letting out an angry roar, and charging, " **You will burn!** " It then held up its head and flared his wings, and breathed fire into the ceiling, sending the flames cascading down across the entire cavern.

"Get down!" Erza cried, as she and everyone else scattered, diving behind rocks. The fire rained down on them, and while they managed to avoid the worst of it, they all got some burns in some way or another.

Meanwhile, up on the cliff, Jerome and Briar had managed to escape.

"I think you can agree that we can't stay here, Shaggy," Briar said.

"We'll report back to the others about this creature's presence," Jerome said, not wasting his time on Briar's nickname, "This certainly complicates things." With that, the dark mages fled out of the cave.

During all this, the dragon didn't slow its attack. If anything, it hastened it. Since seeing all the guilds, it had become even fiercer, and as if it had a personal vendetta against all of them. It also stopped just breathing fire, and began to claw, and snap at the mages, as they ran to avoid the attacks, while trying to fight back.

" **Iron Dragon's Lance**!" Gajeel said, as he struck at the dragon, but his attack bounced off like all the others. The others tried their own attacks. Wendy and Chelia combined their Dragon and God slayer magics to a form a massive roar that seemed to annoy the beast, but not much more than that. The others all tried their own attacks, but nothing was happening.

"Damn it!" Bacchus yelled, "Why haven't we learned from last time we fought dragons?"

"That was seven dragons, and then we had seven dragon slayers on our side, now we only have two!" Cana sneered.

"Where's Natsu when you need him?" Levy said, as Pantherlily carried over, and she wrote a "Solid Script: Water" dousing the dragon's glowing chest, and stopping him from breathing fire and creating steam, raising the humility of the cave. Levy's question was valid. Of all the dragon slayers who would have been effective against this dragon, Natsu would have been the most. This was a fire dragon, and Natsu was a Fire Dragon Slayer. He may have been able to take down the monster even if the flames it used were somewhat different to his.

"Where's Jura?" Hibiki asked as he avoided being separated into four pieces by jumping back from the dragon's claw as it racked where he was standing a moment earlier.

"He had to go to the nearest city and talk to the mining company's owner!" Gajeel answered as he set up a thick iron wall to help defend the fleeing mine-workers, "I swear, when I see that owner, I'm going to stick him right through…"

"Gajeel!" Levy scolded, "Keep your head in the battle!" Gajeel snorted, before striking at the dragon again. The dragon snapped at him, but he managed to get out of the way.

"Over here you overgrown garden snake!" Sting yelled. The dragon turned, only to get a face full of Sting and Rogue's Unison Raid.

Lucy had fallen to the ground, and looked on in horror as the tremendous serpent, as it rampaged through the cave.

"Why?" Happy said slowly, as he stood, staring at the dragon, tears in his eyes, "Why couldn't you have just left him alone?" The way he talked, it sounded like he knew the dragon. She also noticed that happy was an inch taller and actually wore a pair of loose fitting white pants.

"Who is that?" Lucy demanded, as she looked at Happy. But the cat just continued to sniffle as he took in the destruction.

"He was already so angry, and sad," he said softly, "And then you had to come." Lucy was getting fed up with Happy's constant pronoun game, but she knew she couldn't get mad him now. Especially when there was a giant fire breathing dragon running amok right next to her. Lucy then pulled out her keys, getting ready to fight in her own right (note, she's still in her Star Dress). But as she charged into battle, she noticed something.

On the Dragon's right shoulder, was a patch of scales crimson red, unlike the midnight black scales surrounding it, they didn't seem to form a distinct shape, but looked strangely familiar. Also, the scar on the dragons' neck was very small but still there and it too looked vaguely familiar to another one Lucy had seen. But then Lucy saw something tied onto one of the dragon's horn, and her eyes widened.

"No!" she whispered, "It… it can't be…" The dragons said that while they were within their slayers, they prevented them from turning into a dragon by creating anti-bodies, so this couldn't be possible. But Lucy knew what she saw with that dragon. All those combined features were one thing, but this one last one settled it: the scarf on the dragon's horn. Lucy fell to her knees, as tears welled in her eyes.

"Its… its…," she stuttered.

"Aye," Happy said, as he came up next to her, also crying, "It's him." The battle raged on, as the dragon twisted and writhed, breathing fire, while the mages battled against it. Lucy didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to believe that he could have fallen to such a level, that his despair would overwhelm him, that he would hurt them. But the evidence was staring her in the face. With that she inhaled, and yelled louder than ever before.

"NATSU!" Her cry echoed across the cave, letting everyone in their hear it. The dragon abruptly stopped, as it turned, and looked directly at Lucy. Its flaring eyes seemed to burn Lucy's skin, as she shook.

"Natsu?" Elfman said, "Is he here?"

"I don't see him anywhere," Lisanna said. The dragon hissed, as its tongue snaked out of its mouth and licked the air briefly, before it began to moves towards Lucy with grace that betrayed his size, silently reminding them that he was now a apex predator.

" **Lucy** ," it growled. That was when everyone in the cavern came to the same realization Lucy did.

"Wait a minute!" Cana yelled, "You mean to tell us that giant snake is Natsu?!"

"He… turned into a dragon," Wendy whispered, covering her mouth in terror.

"How is this possible?" Rogue said, "I remember the dragons telling us that because of their presence inside of us, we wouldn't become dragons."

"Something must've happened to Natsu," Sting said, "Something that overpowered Igneel's presence."

Erza stared in horror; there was one of her oldest friends, now a monster, fighting against them. Nobody in Fairy Tail could believe it. There was Natsu, the smiling, cheerful, if not occasionally idiotic teen they all knew and love, as a colossal, fire breathing beast. Wendy was on her knees, tears streaming down her face.

"Please, let this not be real, let this just be a dream," she whispered.

The dragon, no, Natsu, loomed over Lucy, as he bent down, putting his snout in her face.

"Natsu," Lucy whispered, tears streaming down her face, "Tell me this isn't true. Tell me you didn't become this, and this is just some illusion or new magic you've discovered." Natsu sniffed Lucy slightly, before showing his razor sharp sword 2,2ft long teeth.

" **I am as real as the heat on your skin** ," he spoke in a voice far deeper than his old one, sounding closer to Igneel than his old one, " **Why are you here? Why now have you come for me?** "

"Come for you?" Lucy echoed, "What do you mean? We didn't know you were here!" Natsu growled, as his eyes narrowed. ' _Of course',_ he thought _, 'they came only to rob me of my wealth. Nothing's changed'_. His response to Lucy's question was to open his mouth. His smallest chest crystal began to glow lightly, and he arched back.

"Lucy!" Erza, Cana, Mirajane, and Wendy all cried out.

" **GET OUT!** " Natsu roared to everyone there, " **Never return again if you wish to live!** " With that, he crawled back over to the pit, and started to slither in but not before wrapping his tail around the carts that carried the magic infused gems and took them along with him. Everyone watched in shock and awe. Natsu briefly looked over this shoulder.

" **I said get out!** " he bellowed. With that, people, not wanting anger the giant fire breather, no matter who he was, began to file out in haste. During this time, Lucy watched as Natsu slithered back into his pit.

"Natsu!" Happy called, "Wait for me!"

"Happy! No!" Lucy said as she tried to grab the exceed, but he slipped away, and flew down the pit with Natsu.

"Oh Natsu, what's happened to you?" Lucy whispered, as her tears fell.

 **(In the pit)**

"Natsu!" Happy said, as he flew up to where Natsu's eye was as the dragon climbed down, "Aren't you going to talk to them?"

 **"Why should I?** " Natsu answered, " **They are no longer my comrades, nor am I theirs**." He landed at the bottom of the pit, which turned out to be the opening into a sort of massive throne room, bigger than the cave above by three times. It appeared to be constructed out of stone and gold with torched lighting up the place from their place on the massive stone pillars that seem to hold up the ceiling. At the centre of it all was a massive bonfire pit with a raging fire blazing in it. The flame itself appeared to be non-magical and was around 45ft tall and 20ft wide. By the other end was a massive stone of stone and steel that sat imposingly three steps above the rest of the room on a raised platform, the appeared large enough for a dragon to sit. Something that Natsu did as he found his way into it before curling on it with his tail wrapping around him in the same manner to a sleeping cat.

"But…," Happy began.

" **I said no!** " Natsu hissed at Happy. Happy recoiled back, before nodding slowly. Natsu then nestled back down, and closed his eyes, apparently going back to sleep. However, once he did, Happy flapped his wings, and flew back up through the pit.

Why did they have to be here? Natsu thought, Why can't they just leave me alone like they did then? He shifted, trying turning his head away from the pit.

 **Well…that's another chapter done and this was also a major change to the original story as in that one, Natsu was based off Smaug from the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings movies and books but in this one, I thought it best to make him look like Igneel but changed the red scales to black since Hiro himself mentioned he didn't like the idea of Natsu wearing red as it would be a clique for a fire wizard to do so…so I used the same logic for his scales, besides they look so much cooler when he stands in darkness, surrounded by fire as he was in this chapter. The crystal thing is something I like using when I imagine him a dragon as they add to the regel but fierce appearance he had going one there Also he was enraged because as far as he knew, the guild wizards along with everyone else were just there to steal what he himself had laid claimed to, which is true to some extent as the guild-wizards were only there as guards. Also Natsu spit isn't ethanol as Levy thinks but rather it a sort of venom he stores in sacks above his month, sort of like a snake and like a spitting cobra, he shoots it out of his fangs to act as a sort of flame-thrower that water can't put out.**

 **Next chapter we will learn more about just what had happened in two years time.**


	6. Chapter 6 Prelude

**Okay, this is just a short message before chapter 6 and some more information. The reason why Natsu was winning the fight with no damage done is simply because he trained the hardest of all of them in the two years that passed as we all saw what he was capable of with only one year of training, At this point he's the third strongest being this Fairy tail AU, only weaker than Irene and Acnologia. The reason for this is that Natsu's sub-conscious mind recognised END presence when Natsu gave into anger BUT due to the overwhelming rage of the dragon seed within, the demon seed was adsorbed into it, granting him oven more power and abilities without linking him to his book anymore, meaning that the book still exists BUT destroying it or killing Zeref will not affect him any more than a bad cold, these new power-ups are the reason he dwarf's August as even though the man knows almost all the magic styles in the world, Natsu has the combined power of the King of fire Dragons and The strongest book of Zeref demon within him. Now onto Natsu's goal in life, he wants to kill Acnologia and end his reign as he is the main villain in the series since the dragons would have never trained the slayers if they could have beaten him themselves which raises another point. I don't believe Acnologia to be as strong as Hiro built him up to be for three simple reasons.**

 **The fact that Gildarts survived his encounter with him, don't get me wrong, I love Gildarts as a character but how could a human without any dragon slaying magic whatsoever survive a fight with the black dragon, the reason there is because Acnologia not so strong by modern standards as he wants us to think. Gildarts said himself that Acnologia came out of no-where and crippled him in a blitz attack, anyone sneaky enough could have done the same. I think he realized that the modern era mages were far more capable than their predecessors, since 4 centuries went by, giving time for more mages and magic's to appear while the same time, these higher numbers of mages could grow stronger since the dragons that preyed on them were gone (** Something that happens all the time if you give a species enough time to do so, such as mammals rose to dominance when the dinosaurs went extinct **). He wished to not only wound one of their strongest but set up a false image of power for himself as he attacked him when he was isolated from any help, he probably thought that Gildarts would have died from shock, organ failure or even blood loss in the same manner the slayers parents, but I'll talk about that in point three. Anyway his attack method shown here which a tactic often used by smaller, less powerful armies to fool their stronger enemies into thinking they are strongest then they actually are.**

 **The fact he destroyed Tenrou Island AFTER the fighting between Fairy Tail and Grimoire Heart concluded, why wait till they won. I can't see him just attacking because three dragon slayers(dragons in his eyes, I mind you) were there because they were there for a full day before he showed up AND they live in Magnolia together so if he wanted to kill them, why wait till they were away from the rest of the guild and potential back-up. The simple reason was because he KNEW he couldn't take on two of the strongest guilds or just a ready-to-go Fairy tail alone without taking serious damage and maybe being forced to retreat. Him '** _ **destroying**_ **' Tenrou Island isn't much a feet of strength either as a weakened Igneel could destroy an ENITRE mountain with a single breath attack while I could see Gildarts being able to do the same if he was full strength as we all saw during the one year time-skip, he did something similar to a hill by ACCIDENT, what could he have done if he was trying?**

 **They say he killed hundreds dragons during the dragon civil war and his goal is to kill anymore they may appear along with the dragon slayers themselves but there's a problem with this. During the GMG arc, SEVEN fucking dragons showed up and nearly destroyed the capital of Crocus which was only stopped due the combined efforts of SEVEN dragon slayers. Yet…he never showed up before, during or after the battle even though this would appear to be the perfect moment for him to do so and complete his so-called mission. He didn't show because he knew he could at best kill two dragons and couple dozen mages before he himself would be overwhelmed and killed as he simply isn't strong enough. Even during the Tartarus arc, yes he shows up but Igneel does as well and even though the fire king is defeated, he's able to rip off a whole arm….**

 **Just think about that for a moment, Igneel was just a shadow of his former self as both he and Acnologia attest do during the fight but he was able to severely injure the Black dragon in combat, which stands to reason he could have done much worse to him 400 years prior when he still had both his soul and body, leading me to believe that like with Gildarts, he attacked each of his dragon victims either, during the fighting as they would have been confusion on all sides or he attacked each dragon when they were on their own and when they least expected it in one on one blitz attacks and fled before help could arrive to subdue/kill him, another theory is that with time, his legend was over-exaggerated to make him appear even stronger as legends tend to do. So I think that future Rogue was onto something when as maybe even three dragons could have defeated and killed Acnologia, seven was just being cautious and the 10 000 more he wanted was just to place himself in power.**

 **Lastly in this story, there will be TWO reasons why Dragon slaying magic is so rare. The first one is of course Acnologia killing off all the slayers he could get his hands on like Darth Vader does to Jedi which as you can tell from the comparison, he was very good at. This would mean that there are less dragon slayers to not only teach their magic to another generation but to have children themselves with the potential to be born with it or learn it themselves. We see in the fairy tail universe that the children of strong wizards tend to be strong as well, even if they don't practise their parents particular brand of magic, such as the case with Cana as she was nominated for S-class how many times, yes she failed but that could have been because of her attitude towards it as she doesn't really grow stronger in-between them to better her chances, just drown herself in booze but even then, Makarov keeps picking which should account for something. The same with Laxus, Ivan and Makavov all being powerful wizards in their own right, Laxus specially as like his great-grandfather is a powerful lighting wizard to the degree he rarely uses his Lighting dragon magic at all.**

 **To that end, the ten strongest characters overall in this story as I can't speak for the original Cannon are:**

 **Irene Belserion (Skill in magic)**

 **Acnologia(Sheer Power)**

 **Natsu Drageel (Combat adaptability and Martial arts expect)**

 **August**

 **Gildarts**

 **God Serena**

 **Laxus Dreyar**

 **Erza Scarlet**

 **Brandish Mu**

 **Zeref**

 **Makarov Dreyar**

 **Ultear Milkovich**

 **Grey Fullbuster**

 **Dimaria Yesta**

 **Sting Eucliffe (With Rougue's power)**

 **Lacrade Dragneel**

 **The three heavenly kings**

 **Jura Neekis**

 **Everyone else will be revealed as the story goes.**


	7. What More is Left?

**Chapter 6: What More is Left**?

"Men! That was quite a surprise!"

"How could that have been Natsu?" Elfman said, "That was a dragon!"

"Overuse of Dragon Slayer Magic is said to turn the mage into a dragon if used too much," Sting said.

"But I remember the all the dragons saying last year that they took measure to prevent that," Gajeel said, "Salamander shouldn't have turned into a dragon."

"Well, unless you've got a better explanation, that's the one we have to go on!" Kagura said, angry at the whole situation they found themselves in.

The guild members, council members, and reporter had returned to Egora, where news spread rather quickly that a giant dragon had taken up residence in the mountain and had all but kicked them out. What struck the wizards as odd was that the residents didn't seemed all that surprised at the supposed revelation, if anything they acted like it was old news for reasons no one fully understood.

Right now, everyone was assembled in the town hall, discussing what had just happened, how the man who was once the one who made everyone smile, and become what could only be described as, a monster. Nobody probably wanted to really believe that thing was Natsu Dragneel, but all the evidence pointed to him. Even Happy had called the dragon "Natsu".

"Are you going to report this?" Pantherlily asked Gajeel from his seat on the table as he had exited his battle form when they reached town.

"I'll let the shrimp handle that," the Iron Dragon Slayer answered as he absently nibbled on a fork.

Levy was working on her report to the Council, hoping it would take her mind off it. _We were proceeding with the mining operations, when there was a an attack by what we believe to be the organization, Avatar. she wrote We were in the process of repelling them, when we discovered that the mountain was the residence of a fire dragon. The dragon promptly drove us out of the mountain, and all mining operations have ceased. We have also come to a realization that the dragon, is in fact a transformed Natsu Drag…._ Levy abruptly stopped writing, as her pen instead suddenly dragged across the paper, ruining it. She sniffled, as she wiped her tears, crumpled up the paper, and threw it away. Pantherlily noticed this, and he sighed. She had been doing this multiple times, and Gajeel knew it, making it clear neither him nor Levy wanted to report this.

All of the other former Fairy Tail members were quiet distraught. Mirajane and Lisanna were both clinging to each other, tears dripping from their eyes, as their brother stood over them.

"Poor girls," Eve said, "I can only imagine how they're feeling."

"Should we really be letting that man be with our lovely ladies?" Ichiya swooned.

"That's their brother, Sir," Ren said.

"I remember when that guy from Galuna Island," Sherry said, as she scooted closer to her husband, "I could never have imagined him becoming this."

Cana would be hitting the booze, but she didn't have the conviction to do it, and only stared at the mug.

"Come on, Sis!" Bacchus said as he came up next to her, "Drink it up!" His hope was to cheer his guild mate up, though some may have called it misplaced at the time.

"Not in the mood," Cana said.

"Not in the mood for booze?" Bacchus said, "What's going on with you?" But Cana didn't pay attention, and Bacchus decided to let her be as even he was rocked by this, he was just better at hiding it.

Erza was pacing very rapidly in front of a window, pausing every so often to glance out the window at the mountain.

"Erzy!" Millianna said, "You're going to wear a hole in the floor!"

"This is the only place where I can pace, and still be able to see the mountain!" Erza said, as she glanced at the mountain again, "I have to be here in case Natsu decides to come here, so that I can speak with him."

"Poor girl's in denial," Risely said.

"Yeah," Beth agreed, "That giant snake isn't her friend."

"Don't be so hard on her," Millianna protested, "What if I suddenly turned into a giant cat monster?"

"You're already a cat monster," Araña said with a grin Millianna pouted at her.

"Now's not the time to joke," Kagura said, silencing the women. She was concerned about Erza; she knew how much that woman cared about Dragneel, and no doubt this was hard on her.

However, it was probably Wendy who was taking it the worst. She was crying, as both Carla and Chelia held her.

"Poor Wendy," Toby said as he sobbed, "It makes me want to cry!"

"You're already crying," Yuka said, but nobody was joking. Everyone in Lamia Scale knew how close Wendy was too Natsu, who had filled a role as her older sibling.

"Its okay, Wendy," Chelia said, "We'll figure out what's wrong." Wendy couldn't speak through her tears. Natsu, her friend, her mentor, her brother, was a beast. Carla's mind was also on Natsu, but it was actually also on Happy. Why would Happy stay with Natsu, if Natsu had fallen to such a low point? Carla always thought of Happy as being simplistic, but good hearted, the latter being more important, but why would he do this?

And then there was Lucy. The blonde was standing in front of the inn, just staring at the mountain. A million things were going through her head. What happened to Natsu? Why was he in the mountain? Why was Happy with him? Why was he so angry at all them?

"Natsu," Lucy whispered, as she wiped a stray tear. It was obvious that the aura of sadness and anger came from Natsu. But what she didn't know was why Natsu had those feelings. Could he really have taken the disbandment that bad?

A multitude of emotions were swirling through her mind. Anger for Natsu's actions, sorrow for what had happened to him, and even traces of happiness and relief, in the knowledge that he was alright, if not himself. Lucy didn't know what to do, but there had to be something there for her to do. With a breath, Lucy turned to go back into the inn. Everyone needed to discuss what was going on.

Once Lucy was in, it was seemingly the thing that announced that it was time to start talking about what to do.

"Well, this answers the question of where all of those rubies came from," Gajeel said.

"What do you mean?" Yukino asked.

"When a dragon takes up residence in a cave or someplace like that," Rogue explained, "Its magic presence is able to turn normal rocks into precious stones, and normal metals into gold and silver, although that is heavily dependent on the strength of the dragon themselves, the stronger they are-the more precious the metals and gems their power generates."

"I guess a fire dragon creating rubies would make sense, as well as diamonds as he was pretty strong" Lector said with a shiver as he thought back to how Natsu tanked all their attacks and kept on going with no damage whatsoever.

"Fro, thinks so too!"

"That's probably where the magic in the rubies is coming from," Minerva said, "I guess the dragon's magic leaked into it."

"That's probably what the dark mages wanted," Lyon said, "The power of the dragon could do potentially do anything."

"We should probably get all the rubies we've taken out of the cave back, little as they may be seeing how we only a handful, and study them more," Levy said, "I'll contact…"

"Stop!" Lucy abruptly said. Everyone looked at her, as she glared at them all.

"Don't act like it's the damn rubies are what are really important," Lucy said, "Everyone here knows what the problem is. Natsu Dragneel, once one of the kindest, bravest, most good hearted person I've ever met, is now a dragon!" A silence fell upon the assembled people. Lucy was right, nobody wanted to really talk about it.

"What's there to talk about?" Cana said, "That's what he's become. There's nothing we can do about it now."

"How do you know that!" Wendy called, as she stood up, "There's always something that can be done!"

"Wendy," Chelia said softly.

"Look kid," Gajeel said with a sigh, "It's unlikely there's anything left of Salamander in that creature. Chances are he's completely gone."

"Don't be so sure," Erza said, "Don't forget, he couldn't kill Lucy."

"And how do we know that wasn't just a fluke, he crushed and burned to death around 50 people at the least?" Yuka inquired as they lost a lot to people with many more injured or traumatised.

"And let's not forget he killed almost all the dark mages, something he would never done before." Lyon pointed out as Gray loved to talk about his guild whenever they got the chance.

"How well do you know Natsu?" Cana countered, "In the list of people he'd never hurt, Lucy's pretty high on the list, if not the number one." Lucy would've blushed at that, but she was not in the mood.

"That doesn't matter," Gajeel said firmly, "The fact of the matter, is that an enormous dragon has been discovered, and from the looks of things, he's more than hostile."

"The kitty said he just wants to be left alone," Millianna said, "So if we leave him alone, then he'll leave everyone alone as well, right?"

"And what happens when Natsu decides he's hungry, or when what littles remains of him, if there's any, slips away? Or if he decides the mountain isn't enough?" Rogue responded, "This village is in his shadow, and there's absolutely nothing stopping him from coming down here, and burning it to the ground."

"YOU'RE ALL WRONG!"

"Kitty!" Millianna said happily. It was Happy's voice, but when people turned to the door, the blue cat wasn't standing there. Instead, they saw a rather tall young boy with blue hair and black eyes at the door, he wore white jean with green sandals along with a brown turtle neck, a familiar green backpack and red scarf. What gave away who is was not just the voice but the blue cat hears sticking out his head.

"Happy?" Carla called out in surprise. The boy just nodded slightly, much to everyone's shock. Happy was never considered to be among those who would be able to master transformation like this, but it seemed just as good as Carla's, if not somewhat better, seeing as he didn't have a tail, though a couple cat ears stuck up under his hair.

"That's Happy?" Lisanna asked. Never had she expected the cat who was practically her adopted son would be like this.

"No kitties?" Millianna lamented with a pout.

"Natsu isn't a bad guy!" Happy said firmly, "He hasn't done anything wrong!" Erza stepped forward, and hugged Happy gently.

"It's good to see you again," she said kindly. Happy hugged back, and Erza guided him over to a chair.

"Why don't you tell us what you know about Natsu?" she asked. Happy slowly nodded, and opened his mouth.

 **(Sometime later)**

According to Happy, Natsu had turned into a dragon almost the same day Fairy Tail had disbanded. He had fled into the mountains, where he transformed, though Happy didn't know how or why it happened. Happy had managed to get on Natsu's good side, and he travelled with him. Natsu had flown north from Magnolia, doing some things along the way. Happy didn't say what those things were, but he repeatedly said they weren't bad things, and Natsu had good reasons. Eventually, after about a three months or so of travel, Natsu eventually settled in the mountain in the shadow of the village as the village-folk had long since believed in dragons so they never bothered them, the mountains had the remains of an old castle that had underground facilities, he refused to tell them much about it such as how big it was or how did one man completely renovate them so they left it at that. During that time, he would do nothing but eat, sleep, train, read some of the books Happy or the villagers got for him and go on missions to test he newfound power. Gajeel asked how he covered himself up and Happy reluctantly revealed that Natsu also know Transformation magic to mask himself as a different person each time, one time going out as a red-headed version of Lucy with a Levy voice all the while using different types of magic for each form, Natsu told him he did this to cover his tracks as well as train himself in numerous forms of fire magic and other combat forms. Over time, they both noticed his presence began to turn ordinary rocks into rubies and garnet while as he grew stronger, he started to turn those same rubies into diamonds, explaining the small number of them which Happy would use to trade for food and supplies.

Though since nobody outside the village itself would do business with a cat, Happy trained himself in transformation magic as well, so he could turn himself into a human as well as increases his speed with his magic and learning news ones such as wind magic and some fire magic. Over the next two years, Natsu ate what Happy brought him or what the villagers brought up to him in offering, which was most surprising for some reason. Happy revealed that Natsu was also the reason they the coal mines had been revived and allowed the townspeople to continue mining it for their needs as they had always done. All this time, nobody has ever disturbed them, if anything they near downright worshipped him, till he came down on them hard for thinking he was some kind of god as he has no interest in a cult. Everything was fine until rumour spread of a mountain filled to the brim with precious resources, and the mining operations began Happy said that he and the village elders had tried to dissuade the mining guild but the mining bosses never listen, even after they were told they were risking the lives of their workers in stealing what was not theirs to take.

But what struck them as even more worrying was the fact that another dragon would come and go as she pleased and if Happy was right…she and Natsu were close, how close he wouldn't say but he did reveal that Natsu appear more relaxed and content whenever she came. The town would welcome her arrival with song and dance where she would drag him down to partake in the festive fun with her. Lucy wanted to comment on that but decided to focus on the dragon that was there at that very moment and ask more about the apparent 'friend' Natsu had made later. From what he _was_ able tell them was that she usually stayed anywhere from three days to a full month and was saw gone at least three months afterwards.

It took time for the story to sink in for everyone.

"You should've just let him be," Happy said, as he stared at the floor, "He wasn't hurting anybody."

"As you should have." Said a new voice as they all turned to the door to see a very old looking dark skinned man standing there. He had pale white hair with black eyebrows and cold blue eyes. He wore simply priest like clothing with the only thing of any real value being the ruby cane he was using to walk around with.

"Who might you be sir?" Chelia asked him from her spot next to Wendy.

"I'm one of the elders of this village, my name is Elder Anderson, young lady and I hope you understand what you all have done." The old man spoke, allowing them to all hear his thick Irish accent in his words.

"What do you mean what you have done, He attacked US!" Risley yelled at him.

"Sir, he crashed 50 people and burned around 80 more, most of those burned are dead!" Kagura voiced her opinion but kept her anger in check. Although the death glare she was giving him didn't seem to affect him all that much.

"I lost a lot of good men to him." Gajeel said as well as he remembered all small his unit looked when they got out.

"Be that as it may, the fact remains that your employers were warned about going _near_ his mountain castle and worse yet, were _stealing_ from a _dragon's_ own home. The fact that _ANY_ of you made it out alive shows me that our protector is a merciful being, despite what you may all think." Anderson told them with a disapproving gaze in his eyes, shutting them up as they all knew they got out because Natsu let them.

"Sir, from the way you are talking about him, you're known who he was the whole time." Erza asked, still keeping an eye of the mountain in case a certain dragon came dome to 'speak' with them.

"The whole village did and still do, he introduced himself to us in the beginning when he first arrived. He offered us resources to survive as long as we pledge ourselves to him. The local guild here didn't take too kindly to this and attempted to kill him as he slept and despite us elders telling them otherwise, they went forwards with their madness about 3 months ago. Of the around 124 mages that went in, only 7 left alive. The guild-master made it out alive as and he was banished for his actions so we suspect that he was the root of the rumour. The rest have sworn absolute loyalty to him to repent for their foolish actions" Anderson replied bluntly, shocking them as he just revealed that Natsu wiped out a whole light guild for rebelling against him.

" _FOOLISH!?_ How could you be with him doing that, he killed over 100 of your own people?!" Sherry yelled out at him, gaining agreement from almost everyone there, once more Anderson didn't seem to care.

"As you're already been told, his presence here has brought back life into our village and allowed us to grow once again, rather than shrink as it grew too cold and hopeless to survive here. We also are not slaves, merely partners as he does his part by heating the lake's waters all year round to allow us to fish more, keeping the summer temperature at a constant for farming purposes, providing the coal we need to keep warm and providing the resources we use to build and trade. We do ours by providing him food, job request whenever he feels like it and spell books so he can continue to grow stronger to better protect us." Anderson explained in the same manner a wise monk would to children. All the while Happy kept quiet, something Erza didn't miss.

"Does your fancy cane count?" Araña asked with venom in her words as she pointed to the man's rather expensive looking cane.

This?" Anderson asked as he raised his cane for all of them to see. "This is a present he thought fit to bestow upon me for our partnership so forgive me if I show my gratitude by using whenever I can. I just pray he does not change his mind and came down here himself or lord have mercy on you all." He continued as he set it back down to balance his weight.

"He won't elder, I talked to him before coming here, Natsu said as long as the mining guild leaves within a fortnight and the other wizards leave by tomorrow evening that he will not attack." Happy told him without the quiver in his voice that he had when he arrived, surprising them as he changed into his normal form and flew right up to the elder before helping to a vacant seat opposing the mages gathered.

"Good, that brings me some comfort, OH…here are the scrolls he requested on foreign magic's and combat styles. Could you ask forgiveness of him for their late arrival?" Anderson said as he reached into his robes and pulled out several old-looking scrolls before handing them to Happy.

"Thank you elder and there is no need, Natsu knows these things take time and he has gained a new level of patience these days. I'll bring down the reward of garnet as agreed tomorrow." Happy replied as he put the scrolls into his backpack.

"Gratitude, by the way, what should we do if the mining guild returns? Natsu had asked us to be quiet about his presence but I don't think that's a feasible anymore." Anderson pointed out as he gestured to the mages with eye.

"Well I don't think they would but in the case that they do, inform me and he will handle it." Happy told him as he helped the elder to stand once more before walking him to the door.

"Very well, of and could you ask him to came down next week for the harvest festival? It's that time of autumn again and we were hoping he could make an appearance, if nothing else for the younger children to get a glimpse of their provider and protector" Anderson asked Happy, actually smiling for a chance rather than his stoic frown he had going for the whole conversation.

"I'll see to what I can do, Natsu does not like crowds but he does appreciate the innocence of children." Happy told him with a small smile of his own before the elder excused himself and left.

"You see, he's not dangerous, he just…different now." Happy told them as he turned to face them.

"Besides the whole dragon thing, I'll believe his different alright." Lyon stated.

"He…just doesn't like guilds anymore…not since…you know." Happy counted as he sat down by himself on a nearby chair

"I knew the disbandment would hit him hard," Mirajane said, "But I didn't think it would hit him this hard."

"I don't understand, how could this happen," Wendy said, still tearing and sniffling, "Natsu isn't supposed to be like this!" ' _I should've stayed with him!'_ she thought, but too distressed to say out-loud ' _I shouldn't have left!'_

"I know how," Lucy said, as everyone looked to her, as she sadly said, "It's obvious. The combined loss of Igneel, and Fairy Tail, it was too much for him, and he was devoured by his despair." It was hard to believe, that Natsu of all people, would fall to despair, but it was the only explanation.

"That doesn't change what is," Gajeel said, "That being Salamander is now a dragon, and he's dangerous."

"He's not dangerous!" Happy yelled, "He's just sad! Leave him alone, and he'll leave you alone!"

"See, the kitty agrees with you," Beth said to Millianna.

"That's not a kitty," Millianna grumbled, still pouting.

"I actually think Happy has a point there," Erza said, thinking, "Let's consider the fact that Natsu let Happy stay with him, there's also the fact he brought back life to a dying community in basic exchange for food and reading material apparently. Its fully possible there might still be some of our Natsu in that serpent." A lot of people seemed to agree that Erza was right. Lucy even had a feeling that Happy was the only remaining tether preventing Natsu from completely losing his humanity.

"What do you even propose we do, Gajeel?" Pantherlily asked.

"Wish I knew," Gajeel answered.

"Someone needs to talk to Natsu!" Happy said eagerly.

"Happy's right!" Erza said firmly, "I'll go up there, and talk with Natsu! No doubt he'll recognize me, and my past 'lessons'."

"Natsu's not himself," Cana said, "I don't think he's going to be afraid of you anymore, especially considering your smaller and power size compared to his."

"I'll go!" Lisanna said, "If Natsu sees me and Happy, he'll remember the good times we had."

"My sister going into the lair of a dragon?" Elfman said, "As a real man, I can't permit that!"

"Elfman's right," Mirajane said, "Natsu tried to hurt us all before, he may try again."

"It should be me!" Wendy said.

"Wendy!" Carla scolded, "You can't go into that beast's lair!"

"Natsu isn't a beast!" Wendy protested, "If I can get down there, and talk to him, I can help him!"

"You're a little girl, little girl," Gajeel said as he stood, "I'm the guy who should go down there!"

"You and I both know you two could never set aside your pride for a full conversation, Natsu would sooner melt you down then listen to anything you have to say!" Levy said, "You're probably one of the last people he'd want to see!" Soon, every member of Fairy Tail, and even some people from other guilds were volunteering to go down to Natsu's lair, and talk with him.

"Stop arguing!" Sting said, "You all know who it has to be!" Once again, Lucy was the centre of attention.

"Me?" It did make sense, seeing as Natsu could've killed her, by chose not to.

"He's right!" Happy said, "Natsu will listen to Lucy! She'll talk some sense into him!"

"How can you know that?" Lucy said, "Natsu's never really listened to me in the past, why would he listen to me now?"

"Because he's always listened to you!" Happy said. Lucy lightly gasped at that. Had Natsu really been listening to her all this time?

"Please!" Happy begged, "I'm really scared about Natsu, his Fairy Tail mark has been getting smaller and smaller!"

"His mark?" Lucy asked. Happy nodded.

"On his shoulder is what remains of his mark," he explained, "But it's shrinking for the past year now, and now it's only a small blotch. If it fully goes away…" Everyone knew what that meant. Lucy then understood what she had to do. She inhaled deeply, and stood up.

"I'm going!" she said firmly, "And no one can stop me!"

"Nobody's going to try," Erza answered with a smile. With that, Happy left, as Lucy moved to follow him.

"Bunny girl!" Gajeel called. Lucy looked over shoulder.

"Now that the cat's gone," Gajeel said as he walked over to where Lucy was, "You need to remember something."

"What?" Gajeel's face darkened.

"We all talk a big game of some of Salamander being left in the dragon," he said, "But no matter, what he's still a potential danger, and it is our duty as mages to stop a danger. If you fail to talk him down…" His fists clenched, as Lucy looked down. She knew what was going to say before he said it.

"We're going to have to kill him."

 **The idea of Natsu's presence creating rubies comes to the old Western idea of dragons and their hoards seeing how even then people questioned just how could a dragon have that much riches, there would be more but Natsu's sin is pride, not greed. I wanted to incorporate that along with my own spin on the gem thing being based on the dragon's power as it would make sense that more powerful dragons would have more of the more precious gems and riches when compared to weaker dragons, by the way, the gold that we see in the throne room was not actually gold, just stone painted yellow was everyone knows gold makes a terrible building material. Gajeel is speaking as a member of the Magic council and former Fairy Tail member, he is also angry that he lost so many men just cause Natsu didn't feel like talking. We will learn more about it in the next chapter. The village is his domain as you all know so it would be difficult for the mages to get them to turn on him or even help their wounded, hence why more people died after the fighting because the locals only treated a small amount.**


	8. The Dragon's Truth (Part 1)

**Chapter 7: The Dragon's Truth (Part 1)**

Lucy was certainly not going to tell Happy about what Gajeel told her. If she did, then Happy might just go attack Gajeel, or worse…warn Natsu. Lucy dared not let Natsu find that out. If he did, there was nothing stopping him from laying waste to the guild again, just no survivors this time.

At the moment, Happy, still in human form, was flying Lucy back to the mountain. What she wouldn't give for him to make a comment about how heavy she was?

"Is there anything I should know about Natsu at this point?" Lucy asked.

"Just watch what you say," Happy said, "Natsu already had a short temper before he changed, but now, you say one thing wrong, he'll might just burn you." One more thing to feel sad about Lucy thought. Natsu's temper may have been, for lack of a better word, fiery, but it was never with any malicious intent, or cruelty. That seemed to be different at this point.

( **In the Throne room** )

Natsu couldn't sleep. He wanted to blame it on something like water dripping or the stone throne (which was actually pretty comfy, especially when he warmed it up). But he knew he couldn't lie to himself. He knew why he couldn't sleep.

 _Why did they have to come back?_ He thought I was trying to move on. Maybe that wasn't true, but as far as Natsu was concerned it was. Here he sat, a mighty dragon of fire, like his father before him, ready to not just succeed his father as the Flame Dragon King, but the king of all dragons. But now all his former friends had to come back.

" **Damn them all!** " Natsu roared, as he held up his four-clawed fist and smashed it into the wall, creating a large hole in the wall which he'll have to have fixed later, " **They turn their backs on me for all this time, and now they decide to come back?! Why can't they just leave me alone?! I don't need them! I don't need anyone!** " He let out a small roar in anger, throwing his fire into the air, rising the temperature well past room temperature to that a black smith's. He raged for a few minutes, increasing the heat till he calmed down enough to look at the ceiling, which surprisingly had a mural of the village he now protected, the land he ruled. As his laid there gazing at the ceiling, he became lost in his memories and thought back to when this all began….

(Flashback)

" **I AM… FIRE! I AM… DEATH!** "

The fire consumed Natsu completely, hiding his body from view. Then, from the fire, emerged an enormous four claws hand, with a powerful wing appearing next, and then another from the other side. Finally, a massive reptile-like head and neck arose, and the fire died down. The newly transformed Natsu wavered, as he fell to all fours. He then rose his claw and looked at it.

" **I'm… a dragon** ," he whispered. He overlooked his newly acquired body, as he flicked his tail, and ran his long tongue along his razor sharp teeth. Deciding to test something, he arched back, preparing his Dragon's Roar, as his middle chest jewel lit up, like a furnace. He then let out a roar, and in addition, a stream of fire, that consumed much of the cave before him. Quickly following him, he arched by his Fire Dragon's Iron Fist, and slammed it into the wall, blowing a hole clean though the mountain.

" **All this power** ," Natsu muttered. He expected Smaug to pop into his head and make a comment about it, but the dragon within was silent. That was when Natsu came to the realization that, in a sense, he had become Smaug. Like a snake, he had shed his old skin, and become something greater. Never had he felt such a level of strength, with this power, he would destroy Acnologia, and all those who dared challenge him.

"Natsu." The dragon whirled around, only to see Happy standing before him.

" **Happy** ," Natsu growled, " **What are you doing here?** "

"What happened to you?" Happy asked softly, as he teared up.

" **I became stronger** ," Natsu answered, " **With this power, I will turn Acnologia to ash!** "

"But what about…," Happy began.

" **Fairy Tail is gone!** " Natsu snapped, startling Happy, " **They've all left me!** " Happy just stared in fear and sorrow at his oldest friend, and adoptive father.

" **Never again will I allow others to hurt me, never again will they take what's mine and not pay the ultimate price for their foolishness** ," Natsu explained, " **With my own power, and my own power alone, I will avenge Igneel! And if doing that turns me into a fire dragon, like him before me, I will readily embrace this fate, I'll gladly shed that pitiful human skin in payment!** "

"What are you going to do?" Happy asked. Natsu turned to the hole he made in the cave. A storm was building up, but he didn't care.

" **I'm leaving** , **, there is much for me to discover about my new form…and much to learn to best the false king** " Natsu answered, as he moved towards the gap, appearing the move life water between rocks with his new found deadly grace.

"Wait!" Happy said, as he flew forward.

" **What?** " Natsu asked as he regarded him with an evaluating eye.

"Take me with you!" Happy called, as he jumped onto one of Natsu's horns.

" **Why would I do that?** " Natsu inclined, as his eye rolled up.

"Because I can be your servant!" Happy said quickly, "I can bring you food and fire to eat!" Natsu wanted to say no. He wanted to tell Happy to "piss off", and never bother him again. But he couldn't. Despite everything, Natsu couldn't leave Happy behind.

" **Keeping up with me will be your responsibility,"** he said.

"Thank you Natsu!" Happy said, hugging the horn. Natsu snorted, as he headed towards the exit.

"Wait!" Happy cried, as he flew over to the remains of Natsu's clothes, "Don't forget this!" He held up Natsu's scarf, still completely intact. For a time, Natsu stared at it.

" **It's a symbol of a past** ," Natsu said, " **The futures all I have at this point. Leave it**."

"No!" Happy said firmly, as he fluttered up to Natsu's eye, which was now more much larger than the cat's own body, "Igneel gave this too you! You have to keep it!" Natsu thought about those words, before letting some steam out of his mouth, and gesturing with his eye. Happy, understanding, flew up to one of Natsu's horns, and tied it around it.

With that, Natsu emerged from the opening, and jumped off the cliff. Happy cried as they fell, until Natsu opened his wings, and in an instant, was soaring through the air.

( **Pause Flashback** )

Natsu was broken from his thought when his sensitive hearing picked up Happy returning from his trip into town, he had instructed his son to inform the village elders that he had no planes of destruction today, he know they weren't to blame for his anger and spared them accordingly. What he didn't expect to hear was Happy bring one of them back with him, which trickled his curiosity as Happy knew he'll burn most of them on the spot and kicked out the others…so who did he think was worth his time. He put some thought into it before he willed the bonfire closer to him, the flame appeared to dance as it approached him from its resting place in the centre of the hall before it stopped a few feet away from his throne.

' **Fire Dragons' flashing mirage'** he thought as the fire seemed to go flat before becoming a mirror which connected with one of the numerous observation garnets he had placed on the outer layer of his mountain, he briefly searched for Happy magic signature before he spotted him about five minutes out…with Lucy accompanying him.

" **What does that boy think this will accomplish…no matter I gave my order and if they think that they can defy me…they will know fire.** " Natsu thought aloud before he shut off the spell and willed the fire back into place, once it was done he laid his head down once more, closed his eyes and went to sleep.

( **With Erza** )

Erza was sitting on the docks watching the waves as the wind blew, she had crept out when the others weren't looking. She needed some time alone with her thoughts. The fairy turned mermaid looked over the lake, as she thought about one of her closest friends, now a tremendous dragon. What were they going to do at this point? Would they really have to kill Natsu?

 _No!_ Erza thought _we're not going to do that!_ At this point, she had to have faith in Lucy. Natsu managed to be calmed by her, if only barely, but she had to believe she could do it again. At that point, her communication lacrima lit up. She answered it.

"Erza."

"Gray," Erza responded. She was glad she was away from her guild mates now, she couldn't let anyone see her at this point.

"Is it true?" Gray asked, "Is there a dragon in the mountain?"

"Yes, yes there is," Erza answered slowly.

"So what the others said about it was true," Gray muttered briefly.

"What were they even doing there?" Erza asked.

"The priest wanted to gather the rubies for a source of magical power," Gray explained, "Obviously that isn't going to work. But what's with this dragon? I heard it's a fire dragon, right?"

"Yes," Erza said, "But the thing is…"

"Do you have any idea where Natsu is?" Gray asked, "He'd be more than helpfu…"

"Natsu's the dragon," Erza said bluntly. There was a brief silence.

"That's…"

"I know you're going to say it's impossible," Erza interrupted, "I don't know it is possible, but somehow, Natsu transformed into a dragon." Gray was silent for a time, as he apparently thought over this.

"What are you going to do?"

"Lucy's here too. She's heading to the mountain right now to try and talk down Natsu."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Gray asked.

"No," Erza answered, "I'd rather it be me going me up into that mountain into the dragon's lair. But the alliterative isn't any better."

"What is the alternative?" Erza was silent. She still couldn't wrap her head around the second option.

"If we're unable to talk down Natsu, then he's going to be a danger to others," she answered, "If Lucy can't calm Natsu down, and potentially save him, then we're going to have to put Natsu down."

"That's it!" Gray declared, "Screw my being undercover! I've got to get there!"

"You know you can't do that now!" Erza protested, standing up, "We've gotten this far, and we can't stop now!"

"I don't recall asking your permission, I'll ran and get Juvia…I have a feeling something very big is going to burn very soon," Gray said, "Besides, what's going on there, trumps what's going on here!" Not leaving this open for discussion, he hung up. Erza sighed, staring at the lacrima.

"Well at least Juvia will be getting Gray back," she said.

( **In Natsu's lair** )

For any other race, sleeping on a solid igneous rock throne would be uncomfortably to say the least, but for a dragon, it was actually quite cosy, seeing how he could heat it up with a low burning flame and just sleep all through the winter months seeing how he never really celebrated Christmas with Igneel, even the village celebrated something called Hanukkah instead about three weeks prior to the more common holiday. Natsu enjoyed those slumbers the most, knowing that his sheer presence was making the coal his subjects needed to keep warm while he slept but because he could do some serious mental and spiritual training without anyone being the wiser. He didn't need to worry about who would take care of his home as the elders sent teams of 80 people to act as his house-staff, they would swap out every two weeks since Happy thought it would be a good way for the villagers to get used to him and for him to memorise their scents and heartbeats for future reference. But as he slept know, he revisited another old memory.

( **Flashback** )

Natsu had flown before, either with Happy carrying him, or using his fire wings to soar about. But this time was different. The feeling of the air under his wings, and the wind in his face, Natsu felt as if the sky belonged to him. ' _Is this what it feels to really be a dragon? No wonder Igneel loved to up_ here' He thought to himself. They had been flying for about a two weeks now as Natsu used it as an opportunity to get used to his new wings.

Happy was clinging hard to Natsu's horn, as Natsu soared through the air at speeds that Happy could not keep up without using his max speed constantly. But Happy had improved on his Max Speed to the point he could hold it for twice as long and could go faster but he never bragged about, sensing Natsu wasn't in the mood for it. He didn't speak until Natsu landed to get a drink of water from a lake.

"Where are we going?" Happy asked.

" **North** ," Natsu answered.

"Why?"

" **Because there's something there I want** ," Natsu answered bluntly. Honestly, the only reason he was flying north, was because it was the direction he had been facing when he first took flight. He didn't care where it lead him, just as long as it was away from Magnolia, and away from them but about two days earlier he had detected a strange presence there that got him curious, it smelled like a female dragon but that should be impossible as even if Wendy turned as well, she was not of mating age yet. Natsu did not know who it was or why they were there but he wanted to find out…if nothing else to see if he had a potential queen waiting for him, or a rival waiting to be killed.

After Natsu finished, he instructed Happy to climb back on to his horn. And with that, he flapped back into the air. They spent an hour or so flying, before Happy noticed something.

"Natsu!" he called.

" **What?** "

"There's something going on in the West!" Natsu looked in the direction, and noticed trails of smoke.

" **So?** " he asked.

"Aren't you going to do something? People might be danger!"

" **I'm a fire dragon!** " Natsu said, " **I don't stop fires, I make them!** "

"Why can't we go over there?" Happy asked, "What's the problem?" Natsu opened his mouth protest, but instead he just clenched his teeth, and flew west.

Eventually, Natsu noticed what looked like a town, being attacked by a dark guild of some sorts. Apparently, there was some kind of legal guild there, judging by the mages assembled before them, fighting to protect their kin but Natsu could see they were outnumbered and outmatched from the look of the bodies already on the floor.

"We've got to…" But the dragon beat him to the punch, and swooped down, and over the village, much to everyone's horror.

"Dragon!" the leader of the dark mages cried, as the dark mages scattered but not fast enough

" **Fire Dragon's Roar!** " Natsu bellowed as he flew overhead in a pass, letting loose his signature, burning all the members of the dark guild to death, leaving but smouldering corpses behind... The villagers cheered at Natsu as he flew over.

"You did it, Natsu!" Happy said excitedly. But Natsu wasn't done yet. He flew over, and at that point, he noticed the sizable guild hall. His eyes narrowed, as he dove towards the guild hall.

"Natsu, what are you doing?" Happy asked. Natsu didn't give time to answer, as he opened up his wings, and started his descent. He held up his back talons " **Fire Dragon's twin claws** " he roared once more, as his already deadly claws became cloaked in fire. With that, Natsu crashed into the guild hall, crushing it beneath his feet, and anyone unfortunate enough to still be in there.

The townspeople stared in shock as the dragon, who they initially thought to be their saviour, had just destroyed the guild they relied on for protection.

"Natsu…. why?" Happy asked in horror. Natsu held his head up high. He looked over the villagers, and then into the distance. At this point, he knew what he had to do, what his world had become, and what he had to do.

" **My world, no, the world itself, is dead** ," Natsu said darkly, " **It is time for this world of guilds to end in fire. After I end Acnologia, and claim for myself the title of 'Dragon King', I will scour the land, and bring an end to all guilds. Light, dark, independent, they will all be turned to ash at my feet.** " He then picked up a piece of rubble that had the symbol of the guild he just obliterated. He didn't recognised it...or care to bother to remember it.

" **The world will end in fire, and from the ashes, a new world will arise, one of strength, and power** ," he growled as he crushed the rubble in his claws, " **This is my mission**." Happy (and everyone else there) looked on in horror at Natsu's speech. But one by one, the people of the town fell to one knee in signs of submission, until the entire town was kneeling before Natsu, while Happy just watched on in horror as even the surviving mages bowed to him…like a servant to their king.

( **Two months later** )

In the following weeks, Natsu would stay in the towns he conquered, destroying any and all guilds he found there, no matter if they were light or dark he would survey his new land whenever he did so. He would have the town's people swear to secrecy as he didn't feel like engaging the royal army yet. However in each case he would leave more or less 20 mages alive to act as the town guard in case of attack, he would order a few to scout the area for any targets he could hit next and a few more to gather as much knowledge on fire magic as possible-those who dis-obeyed were publicly roasted as a reminder of how little he cared for those who would commit treason against him. As a result, no word of a dragon traveling the North in Fiore reached the Magic Council, or the fact whole sections of both forest would mysteriously burned to the ground as Natsu got better and better with his magic. All this time, Happy always kept close to him, never leaving Natsu's side and watched as Natsu mastered both Provenance Flames and Purple Flames fairly quickly. Even picking up telepathy and rune magic in exchange for not killing a few wizards in a town they went through. Happy picked up wind magic and was gifted a new backpack by Natsu so he could hold more.

One day, Natsu was flying across the North, before he noticed something. A large mountain, on its own, surrounding by high laying plateau other mountains. Something about it seemed very enticing, before it dawned on him that the female dragon scent was coming from here so he started veering towards it.

"What are you doing?" Happy asked.

" **I found us our home** ," Natsu declared, as he soared towards it. He then perched on the side of the mountain, he was about to bust a hole in it when he noticed another one a few dozen yards away. He dipped his head in, letting out a puff of fire, lighting up the cavern within.

"It's huge!" Happy said, his eyes wide. Indeed, the cavern was massive, big enough for Natsu to move completely freely, and even maybe flutter around slightly. Natsu floated down the ground, as he looked around for a place where the smell for strongest.

" **There**!" he declared gesturing to a large pit. " **Happy you stay here**."

"It looks kind of scary," Happy said nervously.

" **I don't care,"** Natsu said, as he slithered into it, " **This Mountain will be my castle, after I become the king!** "

"Yes Natsu." Happy relies sadly as he knows he had even less control over his father's actions not more than ever. Natsu takes his leave as Happy flies off to explore the landscape beyond the cave as he explores the cave for the mysterious scent that brought him here. As he go further and further in, he notices that the mountain has already been hollowed out for form a sort of castle bunker complex as pillars, chandeliers, grand staircases and other human building traits are everywhere he looked. As he moved to what appeared to the second level after finding a collapse wall he could fit in another observation made itself known to him. The first being that the complex itself was extremely old as the place reminding him of Galuna island but younger as the floors didn't our-right collapse under his sheer weight nor did columns fall apart whenever he accidently smack them with his tail or when his wings grazed them. The second thing he noticed was that the halls, room, stairs etc. were freakishly big in design and size, allowing a creature of his size the ability to move around comfortably, hell he could fit three Natsu's standing shoulder to shoulder within the hallway and they would have the space to walk forward and backwards.

' _This begs the question. Were the original owners human…or where they dragons_.' Natsu asked to himself as he could pick up feint traces of dragon here, just as feint as the caves of the dragon graveyard underneath Crocus, leading him to believe that no dragon had been here for 400 at the very least…well except maybe his dragon of interest, speaking of…

" **Where are you**?" Natsu said aloud after he spent well over 30 minutes searching the lower caves but the scent was all-over the place.

" **My, my, my…this was something I did not expect this far out**." A deceptively sweet voice called out to him from the shadows, Natsu could instantly tell that the speaker was feminine or another Master Bob.

" **How are you, you have the scent of a female dragon so don't lie to me**." Natsu growled out as he tried to pin-point where the voice was coming from as the cave was extremely dark.

" **Such a brute…then then…so was your father…My sympathies by the way**." The voice scolded once more, showing nothing but amusement in their tone, something that was getting on his nerves…even if he was slightly turned on by it.

" **How would you know of Igneel passing? Show Yourself**!" Natsu near ordered as he was getting sick of this game.

" **Very well, but be warned, there is a price to pay for rising your voice against the queen**." The voice once more called out but was accompanied by the sounds of a large creature approaching. It took but a few moments till a dragon appeared, answering Natsu's question on who was making the scent. Since it was a dragon, she was many times larger than the average human, a little bit larger than himself by a foot or two. She had light-colored scales running all over her body that somehow adsorbed what little light came in, making her look like she was glowing. She also had a dark-colored fiery-man running down her back and arms, which appear to be connected to her feathery wings, further adding to her beauty, at least in his eyes. While having three pairs of extensions from her jaw, she had a dark-colored wing-like design over her eyes that's complemented by two oval designs right above it, the bigger one on the bottom and the smaller one on top, adding a layer of mystery to her visage. She also has them on her paws, four extending from the forearm and three on each finger. There's a noticeable border above her nostrils that divides her mouth from her face, extending near the back of her head. Finally, Irene has a pair of jagged horns extending from the base of her skull and feather-like scales extending from the back of her knees.

Add that to the massive amount of power Natsu could _feel_ coming off her, he didn't know whether to be: Turned on, Piss Scared, or a combination of both. Something she caught on to.

" **Well…I know a stunning but I didn't think it was** **literal**." She spoke out as she eyed him with an air of supremacy at the fact his eyes were all over her, something truth be told, had never happened for her…at least in this form.

" **Who…who are you...you smell familiar but different at the same time. I find it to be more vexing than I care for**." Natsu managed to stutter as he tried to save some face he had never been in the presence of such beauty or power. Sure there was Mirajane, but for most of their childhood, he resented her because she took every opportunity to bully him and she turned nice…AFTER she lost her power. Erza also was a candidate but she was always so closed off and bossy he never though anymore of her than a close friends or someone he could surpass one day, she like Mira, had her moments but after Nirvana, he knew she would never consider it. Lucy and Lisanna was up there as well due to their shared up-beat attitude; love for their friends, loving hearts to their allies and looks as well but he and Lisanna had spoken about their relationship after Edolas and concluded whatever was there was gone as they both reconciled to faiths without one another and Lucy was his best friends, he knew he didn't have any feelings for her but did value her opinion at one point.

But this dragon…no…this beauty was something altogether as even as a dragon he could feel himself losing himself in her eyes. Eyes filled with so much wisdom, majesty and power that he found himself drowning in it. Luckily she spoke once more, breaking him out of his day-dreaming.

" **I've already introduced myself young man**." She replied once more, answering his question while not giving up to much.

" **So…you are the queen? Of what water, sky…lighting**." Natsu asked her, remembering her threat earlier one and gearing himself up for a fight, imagine his surprise in rather her attacking him, she begun to laugh.

'My god her laugh is so beautiful, like a choir of angels sing Joyce to the lord himself' Natsu thought to himself was a face.

" **My apologies...I just find it amusing that's where your mind goes when I say that but no. I am the queen and mother to all Dragon Slayers.** " She told, him mistaking his expression for one of annoyance.

" **No…no need for apologies…you just caught me off guard is all. So how did you became the queen of Dragon slayers miss…?** " Natsu asked her, seemingly remembering his manners.

" **Irene…my name is Irene Belserion, and I created Dragon Slayer Magic around 400 years ago to help humans fight alongside dragons**." Irene introduced herself to him with an air of elegance and power he wasn't accustomed to, but quickly adapted to.

" **I see…so you used the power too much…or were you always a dragon, the names Natsu Dragneel by the way**." Natsu asked her with a wary eye.

" **Why would you think that young man?** " Irene asked him, not knowing why he would think that.

" **My father…he told me that humans become dragons not from killing too many dragons but rather from the over-use of it**." Natsu explained to her as he remembered what little Igneel was able to pass on to him before death via telepathy.

" **Haa…so Igneel did know. Well to answer your question, I was once a human but that raises another question on its own. Were you informed of the cost of the magic?** " Irene asked, not believing another righteous fool fell for the trap of promised power.

" **No I wasn't, my father along with three other dragons sealed themselves within the bodies of their slayers to create anti-bodies to prevent such a transformation**." Natsu told her. The next moment he was slammed into the wall headfirst, rocking him slightly. Before he could gain some bearing the magic pressure in the doubled as Irene held his head to the wall with a look of sheer anger in her eyes.

" **WHAT! TELL ME, TELL ME HOW IS WAS DONE! THAT SHOULDN'T BE POSSIBLE**!" Irene demanded of him, unbelieving that the dragons found a way where she could not.

" **ARGHHH! Why are so desperate to know?!** " Natsu asked as he looked at her through the one eye as the other side of his face was buried in the wall, which surprisingly did not break. He slightly regretted his question as she forced his head deeper in and applied pressure to his head with her other claw.

" **Because being a dragon robbed me and EVRYTHING!** " Irene screamed at him, not caring for him as long as she got her answer.

" **I don't get it, how could being a dragon robbed you and anything? The only thing I've noticed is that my sense of taste had diminished and I don't need to sleep for as long**." Natsu pressed onwards, preparing to fight back if need be. Irene scoffed at him as she applied even more force to his head.

" **I arrogant fool such as yourself could NEVER understand so stop speaking of matter you know nothing of and TELL ME WHAT I WANT TO KNOW OR I'LL RIP YOU THROAT OUT!** " Irene ordered as she grew tired of this game as the potential answer laid in front of her but Natsu wasn't telling her what she wanted to know.

" **Then make me understand, I don't want to fight you so far underground unless you can dig your way out of around 200 yards worth of stone**." Natsu asked, as she saw the tear build-up in her eyes and realized this was far more serious than he first thought. She released him from her grip and as he shook his head to gain some bearing, Irene explained her past. How she once a queen a peace-loving nation and her marriage to her husband to keep said peace, how news of Dragons in the west devouring humans reached her and how she discovered her enact skill in magic. Particularly enchantment which instilled her people with the hope that she could empower the Dragons. How she took the last name-Belserion in honour of her Dragon who she saw as a mentor and father figure.

She told him of how the fighting reached Ishgar and how she created Dragon Slaying Magic to fight alongside Belserion and protect her people. She explained the flaw in Dragon slaying magic and how numerous slayers soon became feared by the people due to the Dragon Seed within them slowing turning them into dragons themselves, how Acnologia killed her dragon and made things much worse for her and her people as changing dragon slayers started to be hunted and killed in the streets due to fear of them becoming him.

She nearly cried when she explained how her own husband, had called her a monster, he ordered her to be put in the dungeons as he too feared that she would become like Acnologia. She tried to deter him by revealing that she was pregnant with his child, but the man claimed her to be a liar. From then on, for three years, Irene was tortured, humiliated and beaten, all while keeping her child's growth halted with Magic. How one day, she was visited by her husband, who told her that she had an execution date scheduled. She tried telling him about their child yet again, but still believing it to be a lie, he attacked her, slashing her stomach in an attempt to cut the baby out.

This triggered Irene's complete transformation into a Dragon, wherein she rampaged and killed her husband before flying away, claiming that she was human and wanted anyone to help her get her old body back.

" **So you see you fool, because of…this…I lost everything**." Irene finished, barely holding back the hot tears from falling from her eyes. She tried to blink them away but a warm claw wiped them before she could, she looked at Natsu was he held her face with a frown on his as he gave a hug, well tried the best he could with their dragon bodies.

" **I don't know what to say, sorry for your loss doesn't begin to cover it but I think you're wrong**." Natsu told her firmly as he moved back.

" **What?...** " Irene stuttered as she wiped away the last of her tears.

" **If your people really loved or trusted you, they would have never followed such an order, regardless of Acnologia's actions. The fact that he did such a thing to you is sadly…proof of how little he really cared for you Irene. Having a human body and time-travel won't change that. Nor do I think that being a dragon was bad because you created the magic to help, even if those humans were undeserving of it. You fully transformed to protect your child. All you did was obtain the power you needed to protect what you loved**." Natsu told her, not believing for a second that she deserved any of her pain but realizing she needed to know the truth…even if it hurt more than any lie.

" **But…but…** " Irene muttered out, clearly having a hard time processing this other point of view. Seeing as she didn't out-right reject it, Natsu pushed on.

" **Tell me Irene….what was the thoughts and emotion going through your head in those three years?** " Natsu asked her, drawing back to the experience he had before he transformed.

" **I…I wanted…to protect my child, to live for their sake so I could protect them**." She told him, clearly not comfortable thinking but to those times if the shivers racking were to be believed.

" **And when your bastard of a husband attacked you that faithful day?** " Natsu asked her, more gentle than the first time as he moved in closer and placed his claw on hers and gave a small squeeze in support.

" **I…was….I was sad…sad at the fact he would turn on me so easily…that my own people would disown me….but…** " She stuttered out, only louder this time as she remembered the pure emotions she felt that day.

" **But what Irene…tell me** " Natsu pushed a little further as she took her claw into his own and placed his other on her shoulder as he looked into her brown eyes that shined with unshed tears…but with something else entirely as well.

" **Rage…red hot rage at the fact they would do such a thing, that they would dare strike me, that in their ARROGRACE THAT THEY WOULD TRY TO HARM MY CHILD!** " Irene raged as she nearly punched him if not for the fact he dodged and let her fist fly overhead, smashing into the opposing all, leaving a noticeable dent with spider cracks.

" **Does it feel good to let it out?** " Natsu asked again as he let her rage for a few minutes to let it out of her system before continuing the conversation.

" **Strangely…yes…yes it does, how did you?** " Irene asked him, not knowing how someone so young knew so much about helping others with their issues.

" **I spent a lot of my time helping others at one point, trust me I've done more times than I care to count. But what happen to your child, did they…** " Natsu informed her, as he remembered how he did similar things with Erza and Lucy when they were at low points in their lives due to family and close friends.

" **Truth be told…I do not know, I spent decades in the mountains away from people till one day, the Black wizard himself happen upon me. He gave me my human form back but I was still a dragon. I couldn't taste anything just like before or sleep…it was maddening…by the time I gave birth to my baby girl…I realized that I could potentially enchant myself into her body and regained what I lost…but I couldn't do it….I couldn't do that to my little girl. I left her in the Rosemary village at the door of an orphanage, after all…how could I raise a child with those kinds of thoughts**." Irene told him despondently as she thought back to how bad she messed up but believes it would be too late for change as her daughter could be anywhere right now.

" **Wait…did you say Rosemary Village?** " Natsu asked her, the name ringing many bells in his head, even if the chance was low, it was a chance none the less.

" **Yes, why** " Irene asked, not understanding why the name would be of so much importance to him, as far as she knew it was a small village in the south of the country.

Natsu went on to explain who he thought was a daughter and how she was captured along with most of her village's children to work as slaves on the Tower of heaven, how she escaped, became a fairy wizard and S-class at such a young age (something Irene couldn't help but feel proud of) how she took the last name Scarlet due to how a person important to her giving her the last a name due to her hair. It took a while but Natsu was able to tell her everything he knew about Erza's life up till Tartarus.

" **And I haven't seen her since**." Natsu finished as she topped off his tale with the guild's disbandment.

" **And...You're sure it's her**?" Irene asked, feeling hope in her heart swell at the notion her baby girl was still alive, despite the hardships she endured alone, she was alive and well.

" **I sure, your scent is similar to hers, she just smell little more of strawberries and steel while you smell of lavender and dragon. Plus it makes sense she would have your red hair. I think she would be proud of the woman you are…for what's it worth.** " Natsu told her as he did notice that their scents were similar in the same way Cana's was to Gildarts's but didn't push it any further in the beginning as he didn't know EVERYTHING about Erza and assumed she had been in the same place as the dragon and not realized it.

" **She would…after everything?** " Irene asked him, not seeing how her daughter and she could have any kind of positive relationship after what she attempted to do.

" **You said it yourself, you couldn't bring yourself to do it in the first place, I'm sure if you sat down with her and explain, she'll understand**." He told her as he took into another odd hug but one she happily accepted, one she wanted so badly for so long.

" **Even if I'm a dragon?** " Irene asked him

" **Without a doubt in my mind**." Natsu answered before he moved in to bumped his forehead against her again, he didn't know why he did it and even if you asked him ten years later, he'll still won't have answer. It just felt right to do so as he couldn't stand seeing her unhappy. Irene on the other hand was firmly confused by this as for all intents and purposes, she was much older than him as she is the mother of his old friend but she couldn't find it I herself to move away. She relished having someone who actually cared hold her, reminding her that she was there and making her feel loved. She soon reciprocated the gesture which to an observer would look quite odd seeing how she was slightly bigger than him but the one crying, it didn't matter though…it felt nice…it felt warm… it…it felt like

Real.

They felt at home with each other, and no one was going to stand in the way if that.


	9. Chapter 8 Prelude

**Here is some more info regarding the story where it stands, yes he will be involved with Irene seeing how they were the only two semi-sane dragons left to speak of at this point. I feel that Irene was a great tragic villain that didn't get the screen time she deserved. Not many woman can openly make Erza look like a bitch in open combat and get away with it. As I'm sure a lot of your readers feel, Hiro cheated her in her fight with Erza since there was no way Erza could win, even with Wendy help which on its own was flawed as Wendy was wounded from combat and low on power when the fight started while Erza herself was still wounded from her fight with Neinhart and then afterwards tanking hits from a pissed off Gray using God-damn Devil slaying magic with the intent to kill Natsu and from Natsu who was using both demon flames and dragon magic to try and kill Gray (Which all happens BEOFRE her fight with a fresh Irene). I'm sorry but that was just a bunch of bullshit right there as I don't know why Hiro thought THAT was the best moment for Erza to teach Natsu and Gray MORE about friendship, hell I would have accepted Erza just comically knocking them both out instead like she usually did or just glaring them into submission. So as you can imagine IF that happens here, it will play out much differently.**

 **Even if she didn't give Gray and Natsu a stern talking to like they both weren't 18 year olds, Irene in dragon form, the form of the creature that Erza could never** _ **hope**_ **to defeat, she was able to break both Erza's legs and her left arm with…wait for it…A CASUAL** _ **swipe**_ **of her hand AND enough power to actually bring as meteor down on her head, from DEEP FUCKING SPACE! You can't tell me that Erza can win that, she should have went about the fight better but she went with her typical Erza approach which shouldn't have worked, more characters could have appeared to help her, maybe Natsu and Gray could have come to her aid like she did them, which would have made more sense. In this fic, don't expect unexplainable wins just because they are the good guys and I promised a happy ending.(There's a difference between a happy ending and a good ending)**

 **In my opinion, Hiro was forces to do that because he promised fans that Fairy tail would have a happy ending, personally I would have been satisfied with an ending similar to Gurren Lagaan where most of the cast give up their lives and happiness for the greater good and lives of their friends. Did I cry?...yes, did I rage about?...also yes but it was a great ending to a great show and if Hiro did the same with Fairy tail, it could have opened the door to sequel story line based around completely new Fairy tail wizards of the next generation maybe.**

 **Anyway as I was saying about Irene, we know much about her past and how in the end, she STILL could not bring herself to kill Erza-her only child, choosing death instead in an attempt to repent for her actions. That should count for something right, Erza can't outright reject her as it would make her a hypocrite.**

 **Why?**

 **I'll explain. If she did, then Erza's whole relationship with Jellal would just become her refusing to let go of the past in the same manner as Irene can't accept being a dragon if not worse as Jellal was just controlled for what? Seven years to do Ultear's bidding for her while in that time he lived the fricking life of luxury, he then goes on to nearly kill Erza if it weren't for Natsu and Simon, Simon sadly dies protecting her and what did Jellad do then? Relaise his mistakes? Fall to his knees after realizing he just killed one of his friends? Retreat like most villains who aren't all bad tend to do?**

 **NOPE!**

 **HE FRICKING LUAGH ABOUT IT LIKE THE JOKER FOR CHIRST SAKE. He did all this and Erza still cares for him, Irene had it worse as she only married a dude to ensure peace (** _which was very noble_ **) develop the Magic that Natsu is known for to help to protect that peace and to pay her back, what did her 'people' and 'husband' do to her? They made her suffer? Being rejected by her kingdom, having her own husband lock her up like some beast, she was tortured, humiliated and beaten for three whole years, all while keeping Erza's unborn body safe within her own body, she finally breaks out only to realize that things like taste and sleep mean nothing to her new tongue which drove her partially insane. With all this information, shouldn't have Erza been more distraught over her death as she cried her eyes out when Jellal was just taken to prison.**

 **Your own mother stabs herself with your blade right in front of you and she brushes it off because she didn't raise you…that's some messed up bull right there.**

 **Because of this injustice to what could have been a stellar character with great backstory, she will be a big part of this little story of mine, I didn't list as so in the summary as I wanted this to be a surprise for all of you reading. From the last chapter alone I think you can guess what she and Natsu's relationship will be like as despite being a dragon that resents guilds, Natsu is still Natsu somewhere deep in his heart and acted on that when it came to bringing Irene some closure, off course she won't just recover right off the bat either as I have someone lined up who can help with her parental issues. Speaking of Natsu, yes he does help but he knows he can gain a valuable ally in his fight against Acnologia as Irene has reason to want him dead as well since he killed her dragon and ruined the reputation of dragon slayers, resulting in most of them being killed in the streets, which was the second reason why Dragon slaying magic died out within a Single generation as all that is left of it are stories and lacrima scattered across Earthland, one or two could even be in Edolas due to being sucked in by the Anima that King Faust used as by Hiro's own reasoning, the Anima sucked in a dying Lisanna because she had magic within her, so it stands to reason that magic filled lacrima could have suffered the same fate, which would mean that thay Edolas DID in fact have dragon slaying magic's which ones and how many can't be said.**

 **Lastly, with Irene help, you can expect that Natsu is hiding secrets that could potentially sway power to him at any time. Just to give you all a hint:**

 **It involves her ability to enchant non-living object with both magic and personalities like she did to those two swords.**


	10. The Dragon's Truth (Part 2)

**Chapter 8: The Dragon's Truth (Part 2)**

 **Hello, hello my readers, this is the 8** **th** **chapter of this tale of mine and for those of who have been reading my work for a while now. Thank you for the support, it means a lot to me as I know I can make simple and complex mistakes with them. As for this tale, I don't plan on doing too much to the cannon material but as you can see Natsu being a dragon is a huge change on its own, also I relied on Irene's own transformation to do Natsu as she was in a high stress situation with all the emotional supports she had gone, which by her word triggered the full transformation, Natsu had something similar happen with him so they are two damaged peas in a pod as they both still have that rage issue. I also paired them because of their little dragon problem, they are very unique people who just happen to look extremely young for beings over 400 years. Before you start thinking about the age gap they have, we're not even sure of Natsu, Zeref and Irene actually ages as Zeref placed Natsu's dead child body in a special container to preserve him which kept him young while Zeref age to the age of a teenager or young adult, I'm making Zeref older by 9 years as we saw Zeref as a young boy when he went to that magic school which happens after Natsu dies. Zeref meets with the five dragon AFTER Acnologia semi-killed them, speaking to the fact that the whole time jump happen after the Dragon Civil war so based on how Irene looked at the time, I'll say she was maybe 19-23 as Erza is 18 and if they stood back to back, they would have been identical. Irene doesn't appear to physically age during her time as a dragon either as she still looks like Erza when she gave birth to her. Erza would be around 26 by the time of the** **Alvarez arc if it weren't for the whole Tenrou thing, meaning that 26 years have gone by, putting her in her 40s, yet she doesn't look a day over 30 as her she and Erza still share numerous traits to the point Erza could wear lipstick and her mother's clothes and pass herself off as her. Therefore here are the ages of the three in terms of physical appearance and health as well as chronological.**

 **Zeref: 427 years old (Chronological) 20 years old (Physically)**

 **Natsu: 418 years old (Chronological) 18 years old (Physically)**

 **Irene: 430 years old (Chronological) 28 years old (Physically)**

 **Here the chapter, enjoy!**

" **Without a doubt in my mind**." Natsu answered before he moved in to bumped his forehead against her again, he didn't know why he did it and even if you asked him ten years later, he'll still won't have answer. It just felt right to do so as he couldn't stand seeing her unhappy. Irene on the other hand was firmly confused by this as for all intents and purposes, she was much older than him as she is the mother of his old friend but she couldn't find it I herself to move away. She relished having someone who actually cared hold her, reminding her that she was there and making her feel loved. She soon reciprocated the gesture which to an observer would look quite odd seeing how she was slightly bigger than him but the one crying, it didn't matter though…it felt nice…it felt warm… it…it felt like

Real.

They felt at home with each other, and no one was going to stand in the way if that.

( **End** **Flashback** )

After that they talked for a while before Natsu got Happy down to meet her and swear not to tell anyone about her, he leaned that she came to Ishgar once every four months to revert back into a dragons as she could only hold her human form for around three and a half months. She left that day but promised to return, Natsu found himself looking forward to her return. During this time, Natsu begun to train vigorously to become stronger as he didn't know how much time he had before Acnologia showed himself again as he had the strange ability to make his scent expire very quickly as not even his new nose could properly track him. As he grew stronger he noticed that the coal veins in the old mines started to spawn more of the stuff, later after a quick 'discussion', he and the elders come to the agreement of the village being allowed to mine the coal in exchange for their assistance in some matters such as finding him jobs where he could just wipe out the target and move on.

And return she did about three months later, by then he had round about mastered _Provenance_ _Flames_ and _Purple_ _Flames_ to a level that even Macao wasn't at the last time he saw him, he blamed it on being a fire dragon so fire magic came naturally to him. On her return they shared some heartfelt greetings and laugh when they both revealed they didn't think the other was going to be there. He told her of his goal and how he needed to gain the strength to kill Acnologia, at first she expressed disapproval about the whole thing but he managed to convince her of his plan now that the black dragon was wounded, to help him she volunteered to teach him how to properly use Dragon slaying magic to a level he could never reach on his own. After around a month of training, he made some headway and grew even stronger to what he could assume four times his old strength, this was the tunnels he dug earlier started producing rubies, something he only found out when Happy stumbled in to one of them. Once more the village was allowed to mine them in exchange for people being sent up to his new home to perform servant work as he couldn't be bothered to clean the whole place on a regular basis.

When she returned again, they went flying where they told each other more about themselves from interest to hobbies, this is where he learn not only was her dragon a Sage dragon but just how far she had come with her Enchantment magic where he saw her give life to a rock(he destroyed it but she got the point across), this time he showed her the whole ruby coal thing and she did confirmed that did happen with dragons, back at her private estate she turned soil to pearls and stone to gold. After another month of training he had gotten to the point where he had near complete control over his fire and could perform his old secret arts move set without actually saying the spell. During that time they discussed the plan for killing Acnologia and he was able to get her to join in on the training so he could teach her more modern styles of combat. It was also during this she saw it fit to teach him and Happy, transformation magic so they could travel around without drawing attention to themselves.

This went one for almost a full year before one day as they all trained together as Natsu was trained in numerous forms of magic to keep the black dragon guessing and in that time, he mastered King Fire Dragon Slayer magic…

That's when he noticed his flames changing colour from a brilliant orange yellow to a pale blue, becoming even stronger which was something both of them didn't know was possible. It was at this time that crystals started forming out of his body, they looked like diamonds but were bluer than they should be. Irene did a test on him and found that he had somehow adsorbed a demon seed into his dragon seed due to the demon seed being too weak to resist and now added its effects to his magic, how and why he had a Demon seed was the question but all of them couldn't figure out an answer but all he knew was that his flames had the potential to slay both dragons and demons with ease. This however leaked into his human form, turning him more demon than man but most wrote it off as his magic's effects so he just went out as a different person each time, creating three alter egos to use. Natsu also noticed that his attraction to Irene never faded over their time together, if anything it grew as he know couldn't sleep(whenever he did) without having a dream about her.

That attraction turned out to be shared and over time it evolved, starting off as side glances when they thought the other wasn't looking and taking more time in hugs to a full one dates and outings till they found themselves sleeping together whenever she was there. Happy kept quiet about it but Natsu knew he was Happy that he found someone. Irene and him took it slow but they enjoyed it immensely, just being with the other seem to be enough to ease their burdens. The night he lost his virginity to her was on love and comfort he would never forget….

Shame the very next morning, he heard the town guild had started planning against him which really fouled his mood…

But the thing was he knew about their little plot long in advance for a few reasons. The first was the elder telling him about their dissatisfaction over his rule, second were the rumours that his food servants would bring with him but the biggest was the fact his _Newts_ would regularly report the issue. He was really pissed about it but it gave him a chance to test out his _Furies_.

You see while Igneel had the Dragon Soul Technique, Natsu had a similar ability to Motherglare's which allowed him to create little dragonoids like creatures about the size of the common house cat, not very useful in combat but they did serve as excellent infiltration and spies as they could move silently and hide in most places. These little creatures came to be known as newts and formed the backbone of his security network. He found he could create around 50 at a time and they typically lasted around a month before he had to replace them with new ones.

His Furies were something special. After he completed his training with Irene and had built up more power, she convinced him to have a guard to fight for him as very little opponents were worth his time now. The Furies themselves were fire wyverns he had collected over the months, she fused them with a lacrima containing small portions of his own power and then Irene would super-charged them with the **Berserker** Spell, creating a new breed of wyvern that were stronger, tougher and more savage then the originals at the cost of intelligence and reasoning. They coined them, Furies.

Natsu found himself broken from the pleasant memories by the arrival of one of the maids. She bowed to him before speaking.

"My lord, it appears that the mages will not heed your warning and take your offer of mercy." The maid informed him as she quickly told him what the newts in town overheard from Gajeel and Lucy.

" **Is that right? Well I shall entertain the blonde one for now then but ready the defences**." Natsu told her as he sat up and rolled his shoulders as he was consumed by a brilliant fire. Oddly enough the maid was either used to it or really good at hiding her surprise

"Of course, my lord but if I might be so brash, who is the blonde one?" The maid timidly asked, not fazed by his transformation to a more compact form but by his power as several rubies laying around flew into the inferno surrounding him.

" **The woman that Happy is bring here as of this very moment. Bring her to here but don't let her see the trap**." Natsu told her as the transformation was complete but in the process of it, the candles that illuminated the massive hall were blown out, hiding all but his eyes in darkness.

"At once my lord." The maid nodded and quickly excused herself as she left through the side door, leaving Natsu to ponder on this new information.

( **With Happy and Lucy** )

Happy set Lucy on the ground in the cave. Lucy needed to do this. She had no choice. She had to do this, not just for the people here, but for Natsu as well. Lucy knew that some of Natsu had to be left in there, and she had to get it.

"Sir Happy." A voice called out as one of the maids stepped out of the shadows of the cave to greet them. She was a middle aged woman of average height and build with green eyes and blonde hair. She wore a classic maid attire with the only changed being the skirt ended by the knees. Her presence was a surprise to both Happy and Lucy.

"Betty?" Happy asked her as she floated closer to her.

"Your father request you bring the…guest to the throne room." The apparent Betty told him as she looked at Lucy with a scanning eye.

"Natsu wants to speak to me?" Lucy asked, slightly concerned by the look she was getting, making it clear that she was not welcome.

"Yes the lord does…please follow me." Betty confirmed with a pause as she look for a word to describe Lucy without insulting her before giving up. She led them to a large door that wasn't there before leading them down a path.

"I thought that this was just a cave." Lucy asked as she marvelled at the great design work put into this place as she gazed landed on the paintings and chandeliers that hung well over 12m in the air but still brightening up the path.

"Not exactly Lucy, it's actually a castle complex with around floor floors to it, we're going to the 1st floor. It's where the throne room is." Happy told her she they took some stairs down to the next level.

"Throne Room." Lucy asked him, concerned for her friend if this was his plan.

"Natsu wishes to take the title of king of all dragons…he thought it best he had a castle to go with it." Happy told her as he didn't meet her gaze but looked forward at the passing staff, all of whom were giving Lucy a look that confirmed her first thought about them. They walked for a few minutes before reaching a massive door, clearly made so Natsu could come and go with ease.


	11. A Discussion

Chapter 9: A Discussion

 **Here it is my faithful readers, the next instalment in 'Burning Skies'. As you can imagine I had to put a lot of thought into this chapter as Natsu and Lucy had to touch up on some rather dark and philosophical topics about each other and the world around them. This is a chapter where we will also learn more about what some of the cast went through in those two years apart and how it changed them.**

 **Enjoy!**

Lucy was nervous.

Not, 'I'm about to ask my crash to the dance nervous but…more along the lines of willingly jumping off a cliff nervous.

She figured anyone who was about to meet with a giant dragon, would be understandably nervous. As the group of the maid, the reporter and cat stared onto the giant double doors, she thought about what she was going to say (An chastised herself for not having the forethought to do this earlier). Maybe ask Natsu what he had been doing over the year? What he was planning on doing? What they were going to do now? But as each thought passed through her mind, she realized the flaws in all of them. The first is Natsu was never one for small-talk and with his temper as he it now, that's just asking for trouble, the next was that she already had a picture of what he was planning and. Eventually, they descended into the massive lower cavern. Lucy was astounded at the sight before her.

The hallway they were in didn't make things better either…seeing how the incredibly tall walls and large grand chandeliers made her fell very small. But that wasn't what got Lucy's attention.

"Careful," Happy said, as he turned back into his cat form, "This is the make-or-break point….no pressure."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lucy answered dryly, as she started to slowly move towards the massive doors which were flanked by two guards that she didn't noticed till now…

Might have something to with the fact their armour made them look like statues and they were standing in a dark spot. She breathed in and out for a couple seconds before walking towards the doors with as much courage as she could muster, just as she was about to open them herself, the guards moved to open them for her.

(In Egora)

"How much time are we giving her before someone goes after her?" Yuka asked. Lamia Scale was assembled in a field on the edge of Egora, in a place where they could all keep an eye of the mountain.

"Erza said that we'll all head to the mountain if Lucy's not back in three hours," Lyon answered, "That gives her an hour to get there, an hour to talk with Natsu and hopefully calm him down enough to reason, and one hour back."

"Is that enough time?" Chelia asked her not so secret crush worryingly.

"We're going to have to hope it is," Lyon answered. Chelia looked over at Wendy, who was sitting at the edge of the field, staring up at the mountain. Carla, as her usual Exceed from, was sitting next to her.

"Poor Wendy," Chelia said. She felt like she should go over there and say something to her, but she figured that there was nothing she could say to her at this point. The poor Dragon Slayer was probably going through enough at this point.

"She has all the right to feel like that," Lyon said, "I would to if anyone I loved turned into something like that." Chelia shuttered at the thought of something like that happening, like if Wendy turned into a dragon herself.

"What can we do?" she asked.

"Again, we're going to have to have hope."

"Don't tell me you're all going soft!" a familiar voice called. Everyone turned.

"Is that…," Toby began. From the edge of the forest, emerged two people, a man and a woman. The woman had blue hair, and was wearing rain clothes, while the man had black hair, and was barely wearing any clothes at all.

"Yo!"

"Gray! Juvia!" Wendy cried, as she saw her two friends coming, and she ran up to them.

"Wendy!" Juvia said, as she and Wendy hugged. Gray tussled Wendy's hair slightly.

"What're you guys doing here?" Chelia asked as she ran up. She briefly shot a glare at Juvia, remembering Lyon's feelings for her, but she was still happy to see them all.

"We heard there was trouble," Gray said, "We had to investigate." He and Lyon briefly clasped hands.

"Care to tell us what's been going on?" Lyon asked.

"Well…"

 **(Flashback)**

Juvia was once more training except with a blindfold covering her eyes, even though it was raining, Juvia has learned to use her rain as a means to detecting enemies and getting the layout of the land based on how the rain struck and ran off the earth and/or surroundings. She was in the middle of learning how to use said new ability to see without using her eyes.

Ever since Gray left for his secret missions, Juvia has thrown herself into training after she had gotten terrible nightmares where Gray left her after he found out she was the one to beat Keyes and indirectly kill Silver, even if she knew Gray would never do such a thing and actually thanked her for giving his father the chance to rest with his mother in the afterlife, the thought nagged at her till she started training to rather protect him other than the other way around.

She started out with simple strength training, using the skills she learned from watching Natsu and Gajeel, she made her own weights from stone, wood and fibre she got from the local plant-life and used them regularly to help increase her muscle strength and tone. Next she worked on her stamina and endurance by running 3 mile runs every day while firing blasts of her water into the air to increase the amount she could fire off before she grew tired while at the same time, slowly increasing the size of her magic container.

This went on for around the first year before she begun to truly notice the gains she got as her magic container was easily 3 times larger and she was much stronger physically as well. She then spent the remaining time working on creating new spells and techniques to use as well as pushing herself to became much tougher physically as she had seen Gajeel and Grey could take beatings and keep going while she relied too much on her water body.

Little did she know, that her waiting was about to pay off.

"Come on!" Juvia's head perked up at the sound of that voice, she quickly removed the blindfold and look around for the source of the oh so familiar voice.

"Don't tell me you've lost your touch?" Gray said as he approached, "This rain's beneath you." Juvia stared in shock, before all of a sudden, the rain abruptly stopped.

"Gray…," she said slowly.

"Sorry it took so long," Gray said, "I can explain why later, but right now…" He didn't get to explain, as he was suddenly tackled to the ground by Juvia.

"You're back!" Juvia cried, tears in her eyes, "Juvia knew you would be back just like you said, I didn't stop training just as you said!" Gray looked at her in shock.

"You've been waiting for me this whole time?" he asked.

"Juvia had to make sure her darling came back to a good place," Juvia said, "She couldn't sleep if she knew that Gray came back to no one." Gray was surprised, before he slowly wrapped his arms around Juvia.

"You idiot," he muttered.

 **(End Flashback)**

"Damn," Lyon muttered, he'd missed his chance with Juvia.

"Is it true?" Gray asked seriously, "I heard it from Erza, but I want to hear it from you too. Is Natsu a dragon?" Lyon was silent, before he opened his mouth and…

"It is true," Wendy suddenly spoke up, "I saw it as well. Natsu has become a dragon."

"That's…," Juvia said in shock, "That's unbelievable."

"Well we better believe it apparently," Gray said, as he looked to the mountain, "We may be living it soon enough."

 **(In the inner levels of the mountain)**

As Lucy walked into the massive hall, she tried not to let it show she was very overwhelmed at the sheer size of the place, the throne room as Happy has called it was big enough to house two Fairy Tail guildhalls and then some, but she pressed on, looking forward passed the massive flame burning in a pit in the centre of the room.

' _Why does that NOT surprise me?_ ' Lucy thought to herself as she walked passed the admittedly much hotter than looks flame towards the massive throne. The thing certainly looked big enough to house a dragon but two things looked off to her right away.

The throne had another one right to the one Natsu was seating in, the only difference was this one was taller but narrower while appearing to be decorated with rubies and silk while Natsu was decorated with rubies and obsidian and gold, which in itself was odd as even though Happy told them there was a female dragon that came regularly, she wasn't expecting this.

Both thrones had a human sixed version right in centre of them which showed Lucy that Natsu must be able to revert back to human form at will to include that.

Speaking of which…

She noticed him sitting on the his much smaller human seat, although he was hidden by the shadows casted by the hanging torches, she could see that he was seated with his head elbow resting on the armrest while he supported his head with his fist, the living picture of calm and/or bored. She could see that he has something growing out of his head, maybe horns or something.

'Okay…so NOT as human as I thought but he has to be human size...right?' Lucy thought to herself as she walked to around 10ft away from him.

" **Lucy**." The blonde clenched her fists at his seemingly bored tone, as she stared up at Natsu, trying desperately to not show her fear.

" **Why did you bring her here?** " Natsu asked, shooting a glance at Happy, " **My inner chamber isn't open to such…people**."

"I wanted you to talk with Lucy," Happy said, "She'll…" Then he found himself under Natsu's fiery glare.

" **I was thinking maybe she'd make a good scribe for the court!** " Happy said quickly in fear for his general health.

"Scribe?" Lucy asked in surprise. Natsu looked Lucy over briefly, before looking at Happy again.

" **Leave** ," he instructed.

"But…"

" **Leave!** " Natsu repeated, even in this smaller form, his voice boomed like lighting. Happy quickly flew back up the shaft. Natsu's attention then went to Lucy.

"What did he mean by scribe?" she asked him now that they were hopefully alone.

" **From what I've read royal courts had record keepers and scribes** ," Natsu answered as he stood up from his throne, letting Lucy see that he had grown about an inch taller than the last time they saw each other.

"Royal court?"

" **But it doesn't matter, I can tell when Happy's lying. So why don't you tell me what you're doing here?** " Lucy stared at the ground for a time, as she thought of her answer. When it came to her, she looked back up at Natsu. Natsu could see something in her eyes.

"I'm here to talk some sense into you!" the reporter said firmly.

" **I'm perfectly sensible** ," Natsu answered, cocking his head, and moving forward, " **If anything, I'm more sensible then I've ever been**." As Natsu walked down the steps of his throne towards her, it gave Lucy a chance to see what he looked like now.

And rest to say, she was surprised to say the least.

He as she noticed was an inch taller than before with his pink hair even more wild and untamed than before since he let it grow in length till it reached pasted his eyes and ended around his shoulders. There was a lock of hair that hung in front of his left eye with some smaller strands slightly masking his right, Lucy was able though to see that his vision wasn't affected too much as he was clearly noticing the small things on her person with the same eyes of a apex predator Lucy normally saw him have when he looked upon his foes…something that slight unnerved her.

What got her feeling downright afraid were the new 'addiction' that were the two golden horns on top of his head, they looked like the horns of a bull as they faced forward but she could see that they each had some type of runes written on them, she could see this as the runes were glowing a feint red. The horns themselves didn't look very large but clearly poked out of his pink mane to give a stark contrast in colours that somehow suited him.

Another was that his eyes weren't the same as they used to be as they were much narrower, giving off a more reptilian look which she could see would fit a creature of dragon' blood.

The last thing to stick out were his clearly clawed hands and the large tail swishing about behind him, both made her remember just how much damage those two appendages alone could do to flesh, bone and rock.

' _Levy always said that a snake's greatest asset was its strong muscles and flexible tail. Added to his dragon aspects…_ ' Lucy thought to herself.

Attire wise, Natsu was wearing a skin tight, sleeveless black shirt with gold trimmed around the armholes, she could see an emblem of some kind which resembled a dragon's head on the left side over his pectoral. Over his he was wearing a black cape which was tied to his shoulders via a small white rope which connected it to his shirt. The cape itself as not very long as it ended around his knees. He wore black elbow reaching glove on his right hand, the glove was fingerless as Natsu's claws would have torn them apart otherwise making the glove look more suited for MMA.

On his lower half, he was wearing a pair of baggy white pants held up by a yellow belt with a silver belt buckle, the pants themselves were tucked into a pair of shin high black boots.

"No, you're not," Lucy said, "The Natsu I know would never try and hurt his friends like that."

" **I'm neither the Natsu you know, nor are they my friends**." Natsu hissed at her as he stop around 8ft from her.

"How can you say that?" Lucy said, "Consider all we've been through! Are we that little to you?"

" **What does it matter?** " Natsu asked, " **The past is in the past**."

"That's not true!" Lucy said, "Now stop dodging the question!" Natsu overlooked Lucy briefly. Lucy decided she wasn't going to let Natsu intimidate her. If she did, then she wouldn't have a chance of getting through to him, which in turn increased the chance of Natsu getting an iron spear put through his heart.

" **You're ordering me around?** " he noted with a raised eyebrow, " **That's never happened before**."

"Well I've never seen you acting like this! I'm going to talk with you whether you like it or not!" Natsu thought about that. He figured that Lucy wasn't going to give up, and as things stood simply incinerating her wasn't preferable, so with that in mind…

" **Igneel and Fairy Tail, my father and my home, is gone** ," Natsu explained as he walked past her towards the fire in the centre of the room, " **I've lost everything**."

"What are you talking about?" Lucy asked, "Fairy Tail may be gone, but we're not gone! We're all still with you!"

" **You weren't with me then** ," Natsu answered with a bit of venom in his tone, " **You all just up and left**."

"So we don't have the right to move on?" Lucy said, "We all have lives to live!" Natsu hissed, as a thick cloud of steam leaked from the corners of his mouth.

" **So I'm not allowed to live my life?** " Natsu countered her as he turn to fully face her.

"Not if it puts others in danger," Lucy answered, "You above everyone else should know that mustn't be done."

" **I know what must be done at this point** ," Natsu told her firmly.

"Please tell me then!" Lucy near begged him, wanted to know what his new drive in life was that would warrant all his done.

" **You know how Happy mentioned a 'scribe'?** " Natsu asked.

"What of it?" Lucy asked. Natsu stood more proudly as he met her gaze, his own filled with resolve.

" **This world is dead. After I end the false king Acnologia, and reclaim my rightful place as King of Dragons, I will…no I must cremate it. And from the ashes I will create a new world.** " Lucy's eyes widened as she came to an understanding.

" **This world of guilds will burn** ," Natsu rumbled as more smoke billowed from his opened jaws as he continued, " **One by one, my fire will consume the remaining guilds, as it will those who do not bow to me. I will rule this world of fire, a world of power, and individuals! And to rule this world, I will need subjects, I will need a court. According to Happy, you're suitable for the court.** " There was a silence between the two, as Lucy just looked up at Natsu, before her gaze fell to the ground. Her hands turned into fists.

"How dare you…," Lucy said, "I've heard some selfish things from you, but I've never heard something like that from you!" She then looked straight at Natsu, glaring hard.

"So you're going by a belief that if you can't have a guild, no one can?" she demanded angrily, "You know what, maybe you will be able to defeat Acnologia, seeing as you've become just like him!" Natsu let out a fierce roar of anger as the bonfire he stood in front of near instantly grew larger and hotter to match his mood. His got closer to her as he trembled in anger.

" **Don't you compare me to that disgrace of a dragon slayer**!" he snapped, " **I'm nothing like him!** "

"You're vowing to destroy the world based on your petty feelings!" Lucy responded, "I wouldn't be surprised if someone from the future came with the intention of stopping you!" Natsu let out a growl as he moved away. Lucy ran after him.

"You could have done something with your life after Fairy tail was gone!" Lucy yelled, "But instead you decide to sit here wallowing in your own self-pity like some oversized earthworm!"

" **Don't act like you understand**!" Natsu said as he turn his head to her, letting her see that the runes on his horns were glowing brighter as well, " **You were the one who drove me to this!** "

"Is that so?" Lucy answered, glaring hard at him, "Then please elaborate me how this happened!"

" **You abandoned me**!" Lucy was suddenly silenced by that, as she stared at Natsu. Natsu let out a hiss as he started moving away again.

"….What do you mean?" Lucy asked slowly.

" **What do you care now of all times**!" Natsu answered her he turned to face the fire once more, " **You didn't care a two years ago**."

"Because you're my friend," Lucy said plainly.

" **So we're friends then? Then tell me. Why you all so readily walked away** ," Natsu said, " **Why did you, and everyone else, leave me when I needed you all the most. I had just lost Igneel, the one I had been searching for all my life**."

"Gajeel and Wendy also lost their dragons," Lucy said, "So did Sting and Rogue."

" **Oh they did they? Oh pardon me for making assumptions!** ," Natsu responded with bitter and sarcasm, " **But let me ask you this: Did they have to watch their parent get savagely torn in half? Did they watch as their dying parent was blown straight to hell leaving nothing but ask in their place?! I'll answer for you! No, they got to peacefully part with them. Were you under the misconception that I went through something like that?** "

"No…," Lucy began.

" **Oh so you weren't then, good. So why did you all decide to just walk away from me**?" Natsu hissed, his horns glowing brighter and brighter as his mood fouled, his servants wisely leaving the room as the temperature soared passed the regular. " **Why did you all decide to just walk away from Fairy Tail, as if it and everything we built, everything we fought for, bleed for, DIED FOR? Was something found to be disposable?** " Lucy never thought about it that way. All this time, she had been thinking about herself, and how angry she was at Natsu. She never thought about how Natsu must have been feeling during all of this.

"I'm…," she said softly.

" **Spare me your 'sorries'** ," Natsu hissed at her, actually getting Lucy to jump back a little, " **I don't need nor desire them. Like you, I've moved on, I forged my own path**."

"Natsu!" Lucy said, "This isn't you! You're better than this! You're supposed to be the one to make people smile!"

" **That fool died two years ago with his father, I am no longer the boy you once knew** ," Natsu hissed, " **I was naive then. Now I've become strong, I've become greater**."

"You're not greater in the least!" Lucy said, "You've turned into some kind of demon!" Natsu looked away, as he looked into flames of the blazing bonfire, gazing into its very soul.

" **If that is what you see, so be it. I'm become stronger for it** ," he said softly, or as soft as a dragonoid could speak.

"You know that's not true," Lucy said as she slowly approached him.

"You know where your true strength comes from," she continued, she gently raised her hand, "It comes from your comrades. And we're always with you." She then put her hand on Natsu's back in comfort, hoping to be given the chance to make up for her wrongs against a person who never deserved it.

Always with you… always with you… always with you…

Suddenly Natsu eyes turned to slits as he remembered a crucial detail, he raised his head and as he reared up, and let out a bellowing roar that knocked Lucy away.

" **YOU LIE, YOU SPEAK DECEIT!** " Natsu roared in anger.

"W-what do you mean!? I meant every word of it!" Lucy replied, not understanding

" **Then why do my so called friends gather at my gates with swords and shields in hand, why do your banner man gather at the foot of my hill, why do you walk in here and build up magic if you trust me?!** " Natsu questioned her, forcing Lucy to draw a blank as she did remember what she was told would happen if she couldn't calm Natsu down enough to see reason but she also knew if she revealed it now to Natsu, he would NOT take it well.

Unfortunately Natsu took her silence as the answer he dreaded.

" **You weren't with me then!** " he roared, " **You left me alone in my sorrow! You and everyone else turned away from me!** " He then stormed passed a still Lucy towards the entrance with fire in his eyes.

" **I don't need you anymore!** " With that, he started walked out the door, while changing back into his dragon from, as Lucy looked on in horror. She then began to cry

"Natsu…," she whispered, as she got her knees, and covered her face, and sobbed, "I'm so sorry."

(at the foot of the mountain)

The other guilds and the Magic Council had assembled before the mountain's foot, out of nervousness for Lucy. No one was probably fully comfortable with sending her down into the dragon's lair with just Happy.

"I don't like it," Erza said, as she stared at the mountain, "I have a feeling that something is wrong."

"Well, considering Erza's senses there's probably some credit to that," Araña said.

"I'm going in there!" Erza declared, as she stared to head towards the entrance.

"Strike that!" Gajeel yelled, "You can't go down there swords a swinging!"

"Says the guy whose current fall-back is killing Natsu?" Erza countered, as she turned to look at him.

"We need to give Lucy more time!" Mirajane said, "I'm sure she'll…" Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Everyone paled, they knew what was happening.

"Natsu," Wendy whispered.

At that exact moment, a large and hot source of heart could be felt coming from the entrance to the cavern, this was soon followed by a source of light which resembled a fire before the mountain entrance exploded, as a huge fire breathing dragon come out and soared into the open air, dwarfing all before it. It let out a roar as it flew forward, as everyone watched in horror.

" **All will burn**!" With that, he dove back down towards the others, as his chest lit up.

 **Well there it is, the ninth chapter, It took me a while to come up with a good reason for Natsu to blow up on them like that till I remembered that Natsu saw what they were doing, which if you ask me is super racist for them. I mean in this franchise, when a human is a threat to other humans and life in general, they chose to subdue them rather than kill BUT when their friend Natsu becomes a dragon, a non-human creature and is now also is a threat to humans and life as well-they chose to kill…What up with that? Why chose to kill a being that was once your friend. I mean the argument could be made that they felt betrayed by some-one they trusted and thought here was no saving them but if that's the logic they are using then Erza could have killed Jellal the world over, losing your memory does not excuse your crimes because everyone else still remembers them and you still did them. Also why chose to kill when it was made PAINFULLY obvious that all the wizards and dragon slayers combined could not kill seven dragons-hell the only one could actually did SOME damage to their dragon was Natsu throwing Motherglare into the Eclipse Gate, that was a dragon for every slayer and on most cases support from other wizards, what insurance do they have that they could do it this time when I doubt that they spent any time training to fight dragon as they all believed them to be extinct.**

 **Something I'm surprised more people don't know, is that Wendy and Chelia aren't the same age. Shelia's actually three years older than Wendy, since it was said that she was older on her character page back in the GMG arc. We know that pre Tenrou, Wendy, Sting and Rogue were the same age with each being 12, this would mean that pre Tenrou Shelia is 8 with GMG Shelia being 15 and Sting and Rogue being 19**


	12. The Dragon's Ire

**Chapter 10: The Dragon's Ire**

 **Well they all get their wish: Round 2 with the Dragon of the hill…Lord have mercy on their poor mortal souls because this is gonna hurt. We get to see just what Natsu is capable of with almost 2 years of training under the queen of all dragons. Also Jura will make his return to the fray and unfortunately he will only become more relevant in the next chapter.**

In Egora, the people could see a glow coming from the mountain. They could see a light glow coming from it, something that meant only one thing and one only looking at the circumstances.

"That must be the wizards doing something," one young man said as he put his wet clothes to dry.

"Those wizards are so awesome," a girl said as she gazed upon the hill, "I wish I was one."

"Don't be fools," an elderly woman said as she walked past the pair, "They've done the one thing that should never have been done: they've woken the dragon."

"You actually think the protector would come down himself?" the girl asked, "That's crazy."

"That glow can only come from dragon fire," the woman said darkly, as she looked to the mountain, "Woe unto the poor souls who were foolish enough to earn the serpent's wrath. For you see, the ire of a dragon, is fiercer than any flame."

(At the mountain)

"Scatter!" Erza cried. Everyone did that, as Natsu swooped down at them. His chest was glowing fiercely.

"Here he comes!" Gray said. Natsu suddenly opened up his wings, as well as his mouth. As he soared over the camp, his fire cascaded out. The mages fled, as Natsu passed over, breathing his blister inducing azure flames. After he completed his pass, he flapped back up.

"Get to the trees!" Hibiki said, "He can't pick us off in there!"

"Are you crazy?!" Gajeel said, "He'll just burn the whole woods down!" But most of the people were already fleeing into the trees, and they were forced to follow. Something that Natsu picked up on

" **You will not escape my judgement**!" Natsu roared, as he swooped back towards the forest, as he breathed more of his fire, setting the trees and some poor bastards ablaze, their cries of pain and pleas for mercy blocked out by the screams of burning wood.

"Where do we go?" Yukino asked as she dragged a man away from the flames back into the clearing.

"Do we go to Egora?" Orga asked as he readied his lighting as it was clear they were in for a fight.

"No, anywhere but Egora!" Rogue answered, "We'll be sentencing them to their deaths!"

"But would Natsu really burn his own followers?!" Rufus asked as they people spoke too highly of him for Natsu not to care, especially from what Happy told them.

"At this point we don't know what he'll will and won't do!" Kagura answered him

"Then where do we go?" Lector asked.

"Frosch wants to know too!" Frosh asked, scared out of her mind at the scene unravelling in front of her.

"For now we should stay to the forest," Minerva explained, "Here, nobody will get hurt!"

"Save for us!" Rufus responded.

"Just keep moving!" Sting said. Natsu performed another pass, as he breathed a stream of fire, cutting off everyone's path. They all turned and started running in a different direction.

"To hell with this running, Lily!" Gajeel called as he ran.

"I'm on it!" Pantherlilly answered, as he flew at Gajeel, and picked him. He then flew back up, above the treelike. Gajeel looked up, and saw Natsu flying in his direction, breathing more of his fire at the forest.

" **Iron Dragon's Roar**!" Gajeel said, as he let out his roar. The stream of dragon iron shot at Natsu, only to bounce cleanly off the fire dragon's scales.

" **Is that all the son of Metalicana has? How disappointing** " Natsu taunted him as she flew passed him, nearly knocking them out of the sky

"Damn!" Gajeel said as Lily moved back.

"Lector!"

"Frosch!"

"I'm on it!"

"Frosch too!" The two exceeds picked up their Dragon Slayers, and flew up. As Natsu was making his fourth pass over the forest which was mostly on fire with little woodland left untouched, the two of them rose to face him.

" **Holy Shadow Dragon's Flash Fang**!" the two said in unison, as they blasted their enormous attack at Natsu. However, it was also easily deflected by Natsu's scales. And as Natsu passed them by, his tail lashed out, and knocked them away, though Lector and Frosch managed to retain their grip.

"This clearly isn't working," Pantherlilly noted as he watched the dazed slayers try and get their bearing back from such a knock, ' _Really if it wasn't for the fact dragon slayers are naturally hard headed, they would be knock out by now from such a hit_ '. Lilly thought to himself.

"What else is there to do, though?" Sting asked, "He's moving too fast for us to try and jump onto him."

"Then we improvise!" Gajeel said, "Let's go!" With that, he, and the others were flown over to keep up with Natsu.

Meanwhile, on the ground, those who couldn't fly, were trying to avoid the flames. Juvia was using her magic to try and douse the flames, as Levy did the same with her Solid Script Water. Unfortunately, they were the only ones with the proper magic to douse flames.

"What do we do?" Chelia asked.

"Can you and Wendy blow out the flames?" Toby asked.

"That would just make the flames stronger," Chelia answered, "I can't do that!" She noticed Wendy looking up in Natsu. Her face was filled with nothing but horror.

"Natsu…," she said softly, "Please…." Natsu let out another roar as he swooped over her.

"…stop," Wendy said, as she fell to her knees, as she broke down in tears.

"Wendy, we've got to keep moving!" Carla, in human form, said, tugging on Wendy's arm, but the Sky Dragon Slayer refused to move. Eventually Carla just picked her up, and flew her away.

"Hell am I letting that idiot do this!" Erza said, as she re-quipped into her Black Wing Armour, and flew into the air, just as Natsu was passing over. Erza then reached out, and grabbed onto his leg as he flew by.

"Erzy!" Millianna cried. Said mage slowly began to manoeuvre up Natsu's leg, re-quipping into her Flame Empress Armour in the process.

"Natsu!" she yelled, as she pulled herself onto Natsu's back, and held up her sword, and slashed down. However, the attack, like all the others, didn't do anything against Natsu, but this one did get his attention. He looked up back at Erza.

" **Erza** …" he growled. Memories flooded in. He was there for her in the Tower of Heaven, he was there for her when Jellal was taken prisoner, and he was there for her when they fought Grimoire Heart. But where was she when Igneel was lost? However he remembered her mother, his love and instead of roasting her like a steak, Natsu spun through the air in an attempt to shake her off, but Erza held fast.

"Why are you doing this?!" Erza demanded, "Answer me, damn it!"

" **Why should I?!** " Natsu responded, " **You didn't care then!** "

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Erza said, "We're always there for you!"

" **The hell you are!** " Natsu answered, as he spun through the air again, only this time he did even harder. This caused Erza's grip to loosen just enough for Natsu to shake her off.

"Erza!" the Mermaid Heel mages, as well as several other mages cried out.

"Riley!" Kagura called out.

"Yeah!" Riley responded. The two used their combined gravity magic to soften Erza's fall.

"Damn it!" Erza said, as she looked up as Natsu flapped away.

"Lyon! Let's do this!" Gray said.

"You know it!" The two Ice mages got ready to attack, both stripping off their shirts. They put their fists together, and stood side by side.

" **Ice Make...** " they said together.

"No!" Wendy cried as she tried to stop them.

" **Blade Eagle**!" Their Unison Raid blasted out at Natsu, taking the form of an enormous eagle with its wings shaped like blades. It soared at Natsu, who saw it coming.

" **I'm insulted, using ice against me? Get real!** " Natsu bellowed as he prepared to intercept, he held up his tail, and cloaked it in fire, before smashing it into the ice eagle, destroying it completely.

"Come on!" Cana said, "We can't let this giant snake go burning up everything, even if he used to be our comrade!" She then looked to her guild mates in Quarto Cerberus.

"What're we boys?" she asked.

"Wild!"

"Let's go!" Cana said, as she brought out her cards, "Bacchus!"

"The Drunken Duo are back in the game!" Bacchus said in response. Cana then threw her cards into the air. Bacchus then struck them at Natsu, as he passed by. The cards were water and wind, and when they activated after Bacchus' strike, it sent a careening torrent at Natsu, as he passed by. It struck him in the chest, and while it didn't do any damage, it doused Natsu's fire, preventing from breathing fire at that point.

"Men!" Ichiya said, "The dragon fire is giving off an abhorrent parfume! We must extinguish it!"

"What do we do?" Ren asked, "None of us possessed the power level to go against Natsu when he was a human, what are we able to do when he's a dragon?"

"Don't forget the lovely parfume we already have with us!" Ichiya said, pointing up. Mirajane, in Satan Soul, and Lisanna, with bird wings, were flying at Natsu.

"Forgive me Natsu!" Mirajane cried, as she charged up a blast of dark magic, and shot it at Natsu. It hit Natsu in the side of the face as he flew with another past with his fire. That at the very least got his attention, as his eyes shot at the Strauss Siblings.

" **You**!" he roared. He'd been through so much when them, especially Lisanna, and even then, they had left him with nothing but his sorrow. And unfortunately for them, Irene didn't care which way what he did to the rest of them leaving him with all the options he can dream of on how to deal with them. He then flapped straight at them, as he loosed his fire. The girls managed to fly out of the way just in time.

( **In the mountain while this all happens** )

Lucy was sitting alone in the empty throne room, sobbing. She remembered Natsu's words of how they abandoned him. She curbed her mind for rationale about what happened, but there was nothing she could find. Had she, and everybody else, abandoned Natsu in his time of need? Natsu had been there when Lucy lost her father, and he'd been there overtime she needed him. But when Natsu needed her, she was focused on what she was going to do to go and console him.

"I'm sorry….. I'm sorry….. I'm sorry," she chanted. This was all her fault, she had to make up for it somehow, but she didn't know how.

"Lucy!" The blonde looked up, and saw Happy flying at her, the maid from earlier not with him.

"What happened?" Happy asked, "I saw Natsu flying out of here, but he was angrier than I've ever seen!"

"It's my fault," Lucy said, "I left him when he needed me the most! I'm the reason he became this beast!" She then rose to her feet, tear still in her eyes.

"I've got to go make things right!" she declared, "Take me out of here!" Happy, not missing a beat, quickly picked Lucy up, and flew her up the shaft. At the top, Lucy noticed the cave had been torn apart, and she could see that the entrance was now much larger and flanked by molten rock, where Natsu no doubt exploded out of.

The two of the emerged from the mountain, to see the horror before them. The land was on fire. The area at the foot of the mountain, as well the woods, were blazing so bright it was if it were day.

There was a roar, as they could see Natsu soaring in the distance, breathing fire over the forest. There were flashes of light, no doubt the mages trying to fight back at Natsu.

"We've got to get over there!" Lucy cried.

"Aye!" Happy responded, as he flew them in the proper direction.

(In the woods)

Wendy was one of the few who wasn't fighting. She just remained on her knees, as she cried. Carla was sitting next to her, as was Chelia, trying to get her moving. She looked over the area, as she saw the fire blazing. The heat was unimaginable, as if Wendy was inside the fire itself. She watched as Natsu passed over again, letting loose his fire.

She could not believe it. She refused to believe it. But that didn't change the fact that it was true: Natsu had become a monster.

"Natsu!" she cried. Those words carried over the burning trees, as they somehow managed to reach Natsu's ears. He looked down, and saw Wendy.

" **Wendy** ," he rumbled. He then swooped down, fanning his wings out to slow his decent.

"He's landing!" Gajeel said, "Get down there!" The people in the air flew down, while those on the ground headed to where Natsu was landing. Natsu crashed into the burning trees, creating small clearing and shaking the very earth from the force of said landing. Everyone assembled before him, ready to fight. Natsu's head then worked around to face them.

" **You think you could defeat me?!** " Natsu hissed, " **What are you all, compared to my power?** " He then start slinking towards them, as his crashed through burning trees. Everyone held strong, as they prepared for Natsu to strike, but he didn't. He grinned darkly, his tongue leaking out of his mouth. The glow of the fire made shadows dance on his scales.

" **They say the world will end in fire** ," he spoke, " **And it seems they were right in that respect, only I'm to be the progenitor. My soul is the engine that will burn this world down to the ground! And as one thought sparks ignition of my vengeful wrath, one thing can subdue it…** " He then reared up, looming over all them.

" **Bow to me!** " Those words echoed across the land, as everyone stared up at Natsu.

"You want us to bow to you?" Mirajane asked.

" **As I said I have said many a time before, this world of guilds must burn,** " Natsu explained, " **I will turn these dwellings of falsehood and hypocrisy to ash, and build up a new world! This world of fire, of which I shall rule, will be built on one of individuals, and strength, but I am not like Acnologia. I do not wish to kill all within it. So I will say again, bow to me!** " There was a silence, save for the roar of the blazing fire, as everyone averted their eyes from the tremendous serpent before them.

" **Wendy**." The Sky Dragon Slayer's eyes perked up to look at Natsu.

" **Come with me**!" Natsu said, " **I can teach you power that you could only ever dream of! I can make you something so much greater than anything you could ever be in this pitiful form, I can give you the strength to never feel pain again!** " Wendy remained silent, before she took a single step forward.

"Wendy!" Carla said, as she grabbed Wendy's arm, only to be shaken off. Wendy stood before the great fire dragon, as she looked up. Tears were in her eyes.

"Natsu," she said, "At one time, you were my teacher, but you were also something much more. You were my brother. I looked up to you, I aspired to be like you, and I wanted to someday walk alongside you. But now..." She hung her head.

"You've become something horrible," she cried, shaking it, "I can't stand with you now!" Natsu stared at Wendy, as he closed his eyes, before opening them again. ' _So you abandoned me as well, just like the others_ ', he thought.

"We will never bow to you!" Erza proclaimed, "No one in their right mind will ever bow to a monster like the one you've become!" Voices of agreement sounded out. Natsu's eyes began to glow, as his chest flared up again. The red blotch, all that remained of his humanity, was reduced to a single small scale.

" **So be it** ," he then reared his head up, and opened his mouth. At that moment, two huge rocks sprung up beside him, and smashed into him, encasing him in a small hill of rock and stone. Natsu let out a thundering roar that could be heard for miles, nearly deafening the wizards.

"Looks like I arrived just in the nick of time." Jura said as he stepped out of the shadows the fires were causing for everyone to see.

"Jura!" Lyon said. The Wizard Saint emerged from the burning trees, his face dead serious. Natsu let out angered cry as he met the eyes of the new combatant.

' _I was wondering when he would show up_.' Natsu thought to himself as his head was the only thing still visible.

"Well…that was easier than I thought." Gray said as he got off the ground after being knocked off his feet by Natsu's roar alone.

"Indeed, but I still needed to catch him by surprise." Jura told them as he eyed Natsu, everyone was about to breath a sign of relief till they heard Natsu giggling, his giggles turned to full blown laughter as he looked on to them with amusement and condescending eyes.

"What's so funny Natsu? You lost." Gray demanded with narrowed eyes as he look upon the smug visage of the dragon.

" **That's just it, you think you won because some bald guy threw some rocks at me, that's what I hate about you humans, so quick to assume without evidence…like thinking THIS would stop ME!** " Natsu managed to get out through his condescending laugh of his which was starting to get on most of their nerves. Before anyone could say another word however he continued.

" **I admit this is highly amusing, seeing how I've haven't had a decent challenge in some time I was hoping you all would fit the bill…pity that all your combines strength your all not even worth my dragons fire** " Natsu boasted as he finally stopped laughing.

"Tough words from a giant lizard that can't move." Bacchus counted as he patted the rock keeping him in place.

" **Who said I can't move?** " Natsu shot back with a grin as he started to glow, gaining more intensity as time went by, forcing everyone to shield their eyes lest they suffer blindness. This went one for a few moments before the light faded down till it was possible to see again, they were shocked by the fact that Natsu was gone.

"Where did he go?" Bacchus asked as he looked inside the now dark space, he never got his answer as he was hit by a wave of heat coming from the hole, before he could blink he was grabbed by a chain of purple fire and thrown around the clearing, being used as a wrecking ball and smashing into some Rune knights and taking out Tobi in the process, knocking the down man into four other Rune knights.

"Tobi!" Yuka yelled out after seeing his friends taken out so easily. Wendy ruched to his side to check his injuries.

"Isn't that **Purple Flames**?!" Lisanna asked frantically was Bacchus was bashed into the ground repeatedly before being thrown into what was left of the forest, breaking three different trees before coming to a stop after impact with the fourth one.

"You like?" they heard a voice from the darkness ask…a very familiar voice that once gave them hope, now filled them with dread.

"That's impossible…" Mira spoke aloud, seemingly trying to convince herself rather others as they all looked into the darkness just as Natsu stepped out. His right hand still holding onto a fiery purple whip. They were nearly floored by his appearance and in Mira's case, afraid as she could feel the demonic energy flowing out of him in waves.

"I thought I should learn more than just dragons magic, granted it isn't as powerful but their uses make up for that," Natsu explained to them, his voice much lower than his other form but still washing over the crowd none the less "What? Surprised I still have a semi human shape to take or did you once more make your assumptions without proof? Come on lads and lasses, I'm smaller now so it might be easier to beat me.

"GHRRRRR YOU BASTARD!" Yuka screamed out as he sent out a barrage of waves out towards Natsu, his anger clouding his better judgement. Natsu on his part used his now smaller to dance around the pot shots and speed his way towards the caster, Sherry noticed and sent out her magic to the rock under them, creating a large stone ogre to defend him.

"Oh that's just cute," Natsu commented as his jumped onto the stone creature's shoulders and jump up into the air while preforming a summersault in the process, he casted his own spell as he was facing the creature in flight " **Purple Cannon**!" Natsu casted as a large ball of purple fire shot out from his hand and struck the stone creature's back, blowing a hole through it and nearly taking out Sherry as well if not for the quick save by Ren.

This spurred everyone into action as they tried to overwhelm him with numbers and a constant attack, this came in the form of Gajeel and Gray engaging him in a close quarters fight, they assumed the two on one engagement would help their odds.

They were wrong

"Wow you guys really have improved since the last time we saw each other" Natsu complimented them with his easy going smile as he danced and weaved between their blows, lazily deciding to not hit back and letting them tire themselves instead. The rest not being able to join in as Natsu was keeping an eye on them and actively keeping them away by keeping Gray and Gajeel's backs to them.

"Shut up yer pyro!" Gajeel shot back as he tried and tried to land a hit on him but Natsu was a slippery as a snake as a fast reacting as a fly.

"That's hurt my feelings you know, oh I know! I should hurt you in return" Natsu countered as he stood still for a moment, letting Gajeel land a blow to his stomach. Gajeel who struck with enough force to knock out fully grown men was unpleasantly shocked when felt nothing but pain himself from the blow. 'What the hell? I'm the guy made from iron here! When did salamander get so strong?!' Gajeel thought to himself as he recoiled back and cradle his appendage.

That's when the dragon pounced.

Natsu with a burst of speed, dashed passed Gray and delivered a devastating left hook to Gajeel, blasting him into the flames he left behind from his earlier rampage.

"Gajeel!" Lilly yelled out as his watched his comrade fly into the fiery inferno, just as he turned around to face Natsu, he realized that in the few moments he wasn't looking Natsu literally got into personal space, staring right into his eyes.

"If I were you I would worry about my own furry little hide, little panther." Natsu told him before he grabbed his head and gave him a brutal head-butt which broke the exceeds nose. Lilly head was kicked back by the attack but before he could make sense of it, Natsu grabbed his head again and this time followed up with a powerful knee to the face which blasted Lilly some few feet away from him. Natsu then quickly performed a double back-flip to avoid the sneak attack from Gray who fired off some ice lances at him which allowed him to land on the shaft of one of them, touching down like a feather.

"Come on mina, you can do better than that," Natsu taunted before he jumped off the lance to avoid being caught by Jura's earth magic. While in the air, he snapped his fingers to cast another spell, " **Red Carpet**." A moment later a stream of purple fire shot out of his legs, forming a sort of carpet which kept him in the air before he rode it into numerous Rune knights, taking out another large portion of them before targeting the guild wizards themselves.

"Oh come on! Just how many spells does this guy know?" Orga questioned out loudly as he avoided being hit by the flaming carpet riding Natsu

"More than you have brain cells…so over two." Natsu quipped as he avoided a barrage of eagles from Lyon and rode around a water blast from Juvia. Much to Natsu's delight, he could almost feel the rage coming off the god slayer magic user from that last jab, sadly for him Minerva was present.

"Don't listen to him, he's trying to trick us into making mistakes so he can exploit it." Minerva told her guild-mate as she held him back from blindly charging. Natsu looked on from above as she met his gaze for a brief moment, which was all the time needed. Something Natsu realized too late as he noticed his attention to the others had wavered a bit too late.

" **Gravity change X60!** " Kagura and Risley casted as the area around him experience earth normal gravity times by sixty, even if it wasn't enough to stop him, it slowed him down long enough.

" **Carrot Blast!** " Beth casted as she fired over 5 dozen large carrots at him.

" **Ice make: Cannon!** " Gray casted as he formed an ice bazooka before shouldering it and firing.

" **Ice made: Giant Eagle!** " Lyon casted as he produced an eagle the size of a magic mobile and launched it at Natsu.

Each one hit Natsu in succession, creating a bigger blast then the last one, obscuring him from view. "You think that did it?" Beth asked Arana.

"From what we've seen so far and the amount of punishment Sting and Rogue put him and Gajeel through two years ago, not by a long shot." Arana answered her as observed the dust cloud while gathering magic power in her hands.

The dust cloud stuck around for a while which gave the wizards some time to get their bearings, from what Erza could tell out of the 150 rune knights they had, around 30 were injured and another 25 weren't moving, she hoped that were just knocked out. Tobi was still out and Gajeel just returned to the scene, a little burned but none worse for wear, Lilly was still down, knocked out with a broken noise going by his ill-regular breathing patterns, the worse off was Bacchus, Both Wendy and Shelia were tending to him but after being used as a wrecking ball then being smashed into the ground repeatedly, she wasn't expecting him to get up anytime soon. Other than that they were good for another round.

"I must say…" Natsu spoke once more from the dust cloud, gaining the wizards and Rune knights' attention again but the dragon once more surprised them when the already crazy high magic power Natsu was giving off doubled.

"You gotta be kidding me." Jaeger spoke out as he and several others begun sweating from the intense heat coming off Natsu. He batted his arm to the side to dissipate the little cloud to show them all that although the attacks had hit their mark, they did nothing more than dirty his clothes

"That although your efforts are as meaningless as trying to turn a shark vegetarian, your resolve to see it through to the bitter end is quite noble, stupid but noble." Natsu finished as he landed back on the ground again, looking at them with a blank face that was somehow more intimidating than both his pissed off and arrogant look.

"I knew he would still be in fighting shape…but to have taken no damage from that." Kagura muttered as she readied Archenemy for a fight. As all gathered collected their wits and begun to stand strong, Natsu observed all of them before he spoke.

"I think that was enough time." Natsu said to himself as he look up to the sky.

"Time?" Lilly muttered as he tried to get up.

"What are you talking about?" Lector asked him from his seat on Sting shoulder

"…Before I grace you with an answer, let ME pose a question to all of you: Do you think me stupid?" Natsu asked them, once more focusing on them as his tail swished back and forth behind him.

"What do you mean by that Natsu?" Levy asked him as she prep her own spells for combat, the Rune knights behind her doing the same.

"Do you think I'm stupid or are you all just that blind?" Natsu once more, his eyes looking over all of them, lingering on Wendy for a moment more, causing the girl to step back in fear before his gaze moved on.

"Answer the question." Rogue threatened as this wasn't the time for mind games.

"Did you all really think I was gonna waste my time despatching with the lot of you? I have merely been stalling for my minions. After all small town such as Egora are quite scared of outsider as is. So it is very likely that they would secretly keep tabs on any and all outsiders…" Natsu told them as he pointed in the direction of the village, the reality dawning on them all.

"Is he saying what I think he is?" Sting asked his partner as he let a scowl show on his face at their massive blunder.

"That they spied on you and found out your little scheme to kill me, that they reported this to their faithful protector and rightful king? That you have been played and lead by the nose into a trap? Take your pick boys and girls for all of the above are true." Natsu told them as the silence was broken by a series of roars that bellowed like lighting. At that moment a trio of massive reptile like creatures could be seen flying towards them at incredible speed. When each one landed, they jolted the earth with their heavy landings

"What the hell are those?!" Sherry shrieked as she jumped back into her husband's arms.

"Wyverns?" Eve asked as he gave each a good look over ant noticed that each was twice as big as a regular wyvern.

"Nothing so crude, these my dear are Furies, my Furies. Designed to be able to take on even the toughest of S-class monsters and your executioners." Natsu announced as he jump into the back of the big green one before each of them took a deep breath and breathed fire onto them without warning, catching all of them off guard. This bathe the battlefield in even more hellish flames, a literal paradise for Natsu as he watched on as the once green land burned and was reduced to cinders and ash.

The battle had just begun for them.


	13. A Bloody Dawning

**Chapter 11: A Bloody Dawning**

 **Well my readers, here we are with the 11** **th** **chapter of this little project. I admit that I didn't think that I'll would have made it this far this this story but the ideas keep popping into me head and I can't resist writing them down. As we all witness last chapter, Natsu in on the rampage and the wizards he once called allies are at this point trying to stay alive. I also chose to take out Bacchus first as he was a very skilled hand to hand fighter but had no ranged spells or attacks and you can see how little that would help. Also the reason why Gajeel hurt himself punching Natsu was Natsu quickly used a spell which momentarily gave him all the mass he had in his dragon form but now compressed into a much smaller body, which made him extremely dense. Lucy and Happy are gonna arrive as well as well as some more back-up for face off against Natsu.**

 **Hop you all enjoy and pls leave a review, good or bad I like to read them in the hopes of making my stories more enjoyable for my fans to read.**

( **Previously** )

"Nothing so crude, these my dear are Furies, my Furies. Designed to be able to take on even the toughest of S-class monsters and your executioners." Natsu announced as he jump into the back of the big green one before each of them took a deep breath and breathed fire onto them without warning, catching all of them off guard. This bathe the battlefield in even more hellish flames, a literal paradise for Natsu as he watched on as the once green land burned and was reduced to cinders and ash.

The battle had just begun for them.

( **Present** )

For Natsu, life had been changing for him his whole life but he never let it get to him.

For one thing, he could not even remember his birth parents, not even his own mother. But…

Would he _want_ to remember the woman who left him to die in the forest as a new born child, forced to fend for his own. He was nothing but a child when Igneel stumbled upon him and in an act of mercy or pity, took him in and raised him as his own son. He fought and trained every day to make the dragon proud, to be worthy of his power and to one day be the creditable to his throne.

The day he awoke to find the dragon gone was one that he might never forget. The feeling of anger and heartbreak were with him for a while before he sought out a new journey to train even harder each and every day in the hopes of reuniting with his father.

This is how he found himself in front of the gates of Fairy Tail all those years ago.

It was there that he forges rivalries, made friends and went on some noteworthy journeys, all the while gaining the power he wanted…

Till he first clashed with Erza and Mira…

It was then he realized just the sheer gap between the three of them, with both being able to take him down without little effort. This crushed what little hopes he had in finding Igneel, after all what dragon would wish for such a weak heir to his throne. But he didn't let this stop him

It never did.

He trained even harder, pushed his limits to the very brinks of what the human body was capable of and further beyond, Lisanna would often tell him he would sooner die from his own training than his foes. Still he pushed forward, never stopping always moving forward.

But he was never strong enough, was he?

He could never beat Erza, Mira, Laxus, Mystogan (whenever he showed up) and definitely not Gildarts.

He, the son of the fire dragon King could not defeat these humans once, he was in a losing streak with Erza with around 120 losses and 1 draw (due to Council interference). He tried to not let it get to him, to swallow his pride learn from these losses to better himself. He vowed to be able to stand on his own two feet to achieve the strength he needed to stand as their equals.

But every battle showed him otherwise, sure he could take out some grunts here and there but when it came to the big guns:

He let a Vulcan processed Macao trick him.

He needed Lucy's help to defeat Gajeel.

Couldn't beat some bird freak with a jet pack without Gray and Simon

Was too weak to beat Jellal _before_ he killed Simon

Couldn't beat Laxus without help from Gajeel

Barely beat Cobra (That roar he did was just one of frustration, not an attack)

Let that Ice bastard not only trick him into becoming the living battery for some crazy bitch's robo dragon, but this only happened _after_ Gray beat him.

Worst of all he wasn't even strong enough to injure a dragon.

Those thoughts polluted him mind for a while, pushing into his dreams to remind him of his failures as a wizard and dragon slayer. He tried to not think about it, to push passed them. So he trained but with a new purpose in life.

To defend Fairy Tail to the last. It was here that he found a home, where as much as it pained him, he had allies to depend on, to stand with him when the going got tough. He ensured that he helped all he could in his time with them, Gray and Mira like to poke fun at him as a kid sure, sure they thought he was lying about Igneel but he had tougher skin than that, he knew (thought) that for all their disagreements and fights, they would fight for each another without a moment's hesitation. It no longer mattered to him if he wasn't able to defeat a foe or beat a challenge since he knew he had others beside him that would help him do so.

Yet…they all walked away from that, like everything they built there was so unimportant.

He wasn't stupid, he heard that Makarov himself had disbanded them and knowing that old prev, he was protecting them from something…or someone…but none the less, it was a foolish move, almost as foolish as the time he wished to leave the guild over what Laxus had done. They gained their strength, their resolve and their victories, standing together, not alone and scattered to the seven winds. He did not know what Makarov was thinking and he doesn't wish to, he made his call as guild master and did what not even Laxus, Grimoire Heart, Tartarus and the council could.

He broke Fairy Tail.

As he told Lucy beforehand, he blames ALL of them as they all had the option to argue, to protest or downright not listen like usual but they all chose the easy path, the non-Fairy tail path and just like a snap of the claws, it was all gone.

So Natsu resolved himself to gaining the power he needed to stand alone, to never allow the illusion of guilds and their bonds blind him again.

To that end, it makes some sense why Natsu was watching his two pets attack and kill his former comrades with a smirk. Honestly he was quite proud of his and Irene's little pet project, taking regular old wyverns and using both magic and some chemistry to make them stronger, bigger, faster, more deadly and arguably smarter and sicking them on their enemies, why didn't he think of this before.

"Let's see. As it stands me babies have killed around 45 more of those pesky Rune Knights and are keeping you in check, isn't that right?" Natsu asked the group as large as he observed another poor Rune Knight get eaten alive like the four before him, luckily most were already dead so they didn't have to have their last moments of life being in the literal belly of the beast.

"Does he ever shut up?" Riley asked as he used her gravity magic to intensify the level of Gravity around one of them, giving time for Sherry to get some Injured Rune Knights to safety.

"At this point, I'll say he just likes the sound of his voice" Yuka replied as he used his wave magic to create a barrier to block another wave of fire from burning him and Rufus.

"Not true, I'm just trying to have a conversation seeing how of all the wizards I've hunted, you guys have lasted the longest." Natsu replied cheekily as Elfman avoided being crushed underfoot before punching away the offending appendage, gaining a roar of anger in response.

"What do you mean 'hunted'?" Jura asked with narrowed eyes as he remembered some vague statements about some guild deaths in the area.

"Well isn't it obvious?" Natsu shot back with a flippant air to him as he observed Jura block an attack before launching a counter at one of his babies.

"No it isn't, please enlighten us." Gajeel replied sarcastically as he held open the maw of the other, letting Lilly carry some poor soul out of the jaws of death.

"Well since you asked so nicely. I referring to the towns and villages I passed through and added to my territories, sure the local guilds or mages normally bent the knee once they bore witness to my power but every now and then there were a few who fought back, and don't even get me started on the ones who rebelled." Natsu replied as with a shrug as everyone nearly stopped at the implications of his statement, Jura realizing what he had done.

"What did you do?!" Kagura ordered as she attacked one of the furies legs, throwing it off balance.

"Other than destroying their little guild halls and hunting them down like deer, I roasted the traitors and rebels in the middle of their town squares, and I made examples out of them. And before you ask, No I didn't eat them, I can only imagine how terrible humans taste since even that old coot Zerconis thought humans too chewy." Natsu replied with the same air as someone telling the time. His old friends couldn't believe this however, in Wendy's case, she couldn't/didn't want to imagine Natsu committing such acts against living breathing people.

"I'll say you gone mad!" Orga yelled as he let loose a charge particle cannon right at Natsu, hoping to take him out, Natsu only turned his gave to him with a smile, the type an adult would have as they explained something to a child.

"No great mind has existed without a touch of madness." Natsu quoted as he batted the attack back at the group, more especially at Levy and Juvia.

"Juvia!" Erza and Gray yelled as they saw the lighting about to strike them.

" **Aquatic Grounder**!" Juvia casted as a large spike of water rose from the ground, reaching twice as tall as Juvia and Levy combined and taking the hit, grounding the lighting before he got close. Erza was amazed that Juvia would use her own element's inherent weakness to lighting as a strength.

"Forgive me my beloved but don't forget I spent these two years training." Juvia told him as he turned to face on of the furies, eyeing the side of the beast with a look of calculation. " **Water Saws**!" She casted once more and let loose a volley of 12 8ft discs of water directly at the side of one, to the amazement of the fighter, the last 3 actually cut deep enough to draw blood.

"Well colour me surprised, the rain woman with a bad taste in men scores first blood out of all of yer." Natsu praised as he watched on, slightly pissed that she was able to injure them at ALL.

"What was that about my taste in men?" Juvia asked him with a cold glare as he avoided the beast counter attack before launching herself into its back.

"You heard me water user, I'm saying Gray is a pushover of a man." Natsu told her with his same old cockiness. The sky suddenly darkened as it begun to rain, Juvia magic power doubling in an instant.

"Oh he did it now, the last time she had that look was Tenrou Island." Erza spoke aloud, slightly scared of the power the enraged woman was putting out, backing up her claim of training, ' _My God, she easily has 4 times the power she had two years ago!'_ Erza thought to herself in amazement.

"That's my mind of woman." Lyon muttered, missing the jealous look in Shelia's eyes and the angered one in Gray's.

"Keep yer eyes to yourself!" Gray told him as he smacked him over the head.

The magic power in the air kept rising as Juvia powered up, causing the rain to turn from a light drizzle into a medium downpour, Natsu himself as impressed with the display, he could see just how much she had grown, the very water striking him from the heavens had a smell of power and rage, two things he know well. Suddenly it all stop, not the rain itself per say, no.

As in the rain drops froze in mid-air, shocking everyone bar Natsu, who had a look of childish delight in his eyes as he looked forward to a fight.

" **Water Magic: Drizzle Needles**!" Juvia casted as all the rain drops shaped themselves into wicked looking needles before launching at the dragon slayer, Natsu responded by jumping off the fury and casted his red carpet spell to avoid the barrage entirely.

'Damn, that must have been close to 4 million needles, she IS strong' Natsu thought to himself as he saw the after effects of such an attack, and he was surprised.

Almost all of them has pierced and dug deep into his fury, it's pained wailed proof of this as well as the fact that several dozen of those things had hit its eyes, effectively blinding it. "Holy Shit, she did _that_ with a single blast!" Gajeel spoke as he and everyone else were nearly floored by the destructive power of the pissed off rain women.

"Seems I need to put more work into the Furies Mk II after all, oh well." Natsu announced from his position above them, completely ignoring the pained wails of his fury as it crashed down into the ground. Juvia on the other hand wasn't finished by a long shot.

" **Water Lock**!" Juvia casted as she engulf two large piles in rocks, before throwing one at Natsu, forcing him to dodge, however while he was moving around avoiding the first one, she fired off the second, actually getting him invested in the fight.

' _She used her spell to encase the left over rocks into a wrecking ball, ingenious.'_ Natsu thought to himself as he did avoided another face full of rock and water. Everyone realize that this was a prime moment to fight back as he was distracted with Juvia's rampage which was doing a great job of putting out most of the forest fires by the way.

" **Ice make: Dragon**!" Lyon casted as he set off an eastern styled dragon at the rogue wizard, Natsu quickly noticed its approach and new letting it near him would a bad idea with so many threats so he instead casted a long range spell instead but Shelia beat him to the punch.

" **Sky God's Roar**!" She casted as he let loose a fierce roar of black air at the dragonoid, the two attacks fused together, giving the already fast moving construct- a massive speed boast

" **Purple Net**!" Natsu casted quickly as he switched spells to avoid the hit, the net ensnared the ice creations and quickly crushed it, and this however distracted Natsu from another attack.

" **White Dragon's Roar**!" Sting casted, having used Lector to once more get airborne and attack Natsu from behind, Natsu evaded the hit before blasting towards the Sabretooth guild master with bad intentions. Juvia took his ignoring her as an insult and she refused to let that stand.

" **Grand Water Slicer**!" Juvia casted as she fired off a much more powerful version of the base spell towards Natsu, catching him off guard. The spell struck his mid-section with monstrous force, knocking him to the ground. Natsu near instantly recovered from the 80ft drop but Juvia was prepared for him. He look up and realize that he was inside a giant dome made up of water, he could see that it was at least 60ft in diameter.

" **Water Pantheon**!" Juvia casted off with the same tone she used during her first fight with Meredy, something Erza picked up on and wisely stepped away least she be caught in her anger. The spell itself caused the dome to collapse in on itself with Natsu in it.

"You're not the only one you can make it rain." Natsu quipped as he raised his hand towards the approaching ceiling and cast his counter-attack. " **Purple Storm**!" He casted ah he fired off hundreds of baseball sized blasts of purple fire, each one chewing through the ceiling till it was nothing, leaving the spot he was staying in clear. This caused a large cloud of steam which blocked out any visuals of the two combatants as Natsu dashed in fist blazing with purple fire while Juvia jumped in with Water Claw spell active, leaving everyone else in the dust.

"Gray, just how strong is she?" Shelia asked as she took in the sound of fierce fighting between as every now and then a stray blast of fire would shot out or jet of water would fly out.

"Stronger that we all thought, that's for sure." Gray answered as he took in the sheer power two combatants were throwing around. Suddenly Natsu was thrown out of the cloud into a boulder, embedding him deeply into it. Just as he came to a stop around 2ft deep, Juvia shot out of the water in her water form, speeding towards him like a bat out of hell.

" **Sierra**!" She casted as she rammed into Natsu stomach, causing him visible pain as she carried into the air before throwing him higher up, Natsu found himself in a dangerous position as he was around 200ft in the air while being barraged by small drops of magic infused water, "I'm not done yet!" Juvia stated, pissed off he was still conscious, all around her six Elfman sized columns of water formed, she gathered even more water to add to this as Kagura noticed even the water on most of them from the rain were drawn towards her. 'Just what is she planning?' She thought to herself as she saw the columns grow to the height of a three storey building with a radius of around 12 ft.

" **Star Gaze Aquatic Nebula**!" Juvia casted as all six pillars of water fired off at bullet speed, they passed by Natsu before turning on a dime and striking him in the back, ploughing Natsu in the earth with enough force to shake the ground and leave a large crater. No one could believe that Juvia has this much power, even if she looking worse for wear, it was clear she could keep going, Wendy on the other was worried that the fighting would carry on beyond reasoning and digress into a slaughter. She believed this to be a possibility as she noticed that even though Natsu took the full brunt of the attack, he was smiling when it hit him. She has only seen _that_ smile whenever he was in a guild brawl and he was cooking up a counter strike to put the offense to shame, case in point: the time Elfman punched him into the bar he and he threw him into Erza while she at her strawberry cheesecake.

That was the day the man cried mercy.

She felt someone tap her shoulder and looked up to see Jura standing by her side, it seemed she wasn't the only one to see the dangerous look in the fire user's eyes. "Get ready." He told her she stood in front of her to take any attack thrown their way.

All were silent once again as the figure of Natsu was obscured by a cloud of dust and vapour, even so no-one let their guard down lest they meet Bacchus's fate.

"You think THAT phased him?" Warcry asked his guild-mates, scared out of his minds of the power being thrown around.

"It had to, you felt the power behind it." Rocker replied, amazed that even after all the training he and his guild-mates put themselves following the whole dragon invasion thing, they were still leaps and bounds away from their heavy hitters.

"I don't think so, Juvia still looks ready for a fight." Jager spoke as he watched as Juvia didn't release her battle stance, if anything she look like she was getting ready for round 2

"She just being smart, we should be focusing on his furies." Dobengal stated as he didn't think Natsu would come back from that and was more worried about the other flying lizards.

"Not necessary, Rogue and I have been keeping the look-out and he called them all off, probably because Juvia took out one of them so easily." Sting stated as most looked around and saw that they were in act gone. At that moment the cloud hiding Natsu from sight was blown away by the appearance of a massive inferno of purple and red flames, revealing that he was back on his feet…

And laughing like a mad man.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YES, YES! I found an opponent worth my time, someone to challenge me once more, and someone who can actually wound me!" Natsu yelled in pure joy, putting out the fire and showing them that his top was nearly ruined, leaving him with just the glove. This allowed them to see that he did have some bruising on his back and was bleeding from the mid-section where Juvia had struck him.

"Holy shit! He right, she did it" Rocker yelled at seeing the small wound on his stomach.

"So we do have a chance?" Beth asked, relieved that they were gaining ground

"…No we don't…I don't think we ever did." Wendy dead tone shocked them all, it didn't seem possible for Wendy to give up even if the odds against them.

"What do mean child? He bleeds from one of our attacks, surely that is proof that we can do it." Carla asked her, concerned for what the child she loved dearly saw in this fight that no-one else could.

"Because his treating this like a guild brawl, He took out those he didn't see worthy, pissed off everyone, selected a target and worked on that person's nerves, in this case Juvia." Wendy replied as she listed the behaviour patterns she noticed Natsu had during his guild brawls and how he wouldn't waste time on anyone other than his own opponent.

"Are you telling me that he treating this as a joke?!" Sherry asked her, scared out her mind at the prospect that this was the beast holding back.

"No I'm telling you he was holding back the whole time, Juvia just spiked his interest…and with him as he is now, she may not survive." Wendy told them with a look of sadness in her eyes as she didn't think he would go easy on her or even let Juvia live.

Fortunately for the guilds, Natsu and Juvia didn't hear a word of their little conversation, too busy eyeing each other down. Juvia watching Natsu with a look of calm fury while he watched her with a look of amusement.

"I admit, I didn't think you would get up from that." Juvia told him, disappointed that she didn't take him out with that blow but remembered he was always one to not stay down.

"You insult me, to be fallen by such an attack but I was wrong about you." Natsu replied as he started to circle her, looking for a weak point, Juvia started doing the same in kind, leaving them resembling two wolves about to duke it out.

"How so?" Juvia asked him, hoping to keep him talking long enough to replenish some of the power she expended in her earlier barrage.

"I admit, I always found it annoying you would follow that stripper around, never training to better yourself. But here you are stronger than him by a mile." Natsu told her with an open smile showing off that most of his teeth were much bigger and sharper than a humans.

"If you think I'm stronger than him than you truly forgotten your rival." Juvia told him firmly, not believing for a moment that her beloved was an easy takedown

"Don't undersell yourself, I felt all your magic power earlier in the fight, and by GOD you have one of the highest ones, far surpassing Fullbuster," Natsu replied as he gathered himself for the attack, his magic power output starting to rise once again as he purple fire started to gather in his hands "But let's get one with the fight, shall we I haven't had this much fun in ages!" As he said this the purple fire balls he gathered tripled in size and started giving off an intense wav of heat. He combined them together and fired off his spell.

" **Hell** **Prominence**!" Natsu casted as he fired off a beam of red hot flames easily five times bigger and stronger than the one Bora tried to use on his, Juvia dodged the blast and ignored the shockwave and heat from the beam smacking into the charred forest, levelling most of it.

" **Water Saws**!" Juvia casted as she threw another dozen of them towards Natsu, hoping to catch him off guard.

" **Fire Bullet**!" However Natsu counted with his spell, firing a large wave of regular fire towards the discs, destroying them all. Before Juvia could see it coming, Natsu already casted his next spell.

" **Prominence Typhoon**!" Natsu fired off a massive swirling wave of purple fire towards her, before she could rise a defence, she found herself engulfed in them, she kept herself from screaming though but the flames sure did burn. Natsu continued the attack.

" **Purple Snare**!" Natsu wasn't giving her an inch as he fired off another spell, forming a fiery whip which wrapped itself around her before pulling her towards him at frightening speeds, Once she was close enough, Natsu hit her with a devastating kick to the mid-section, making her cough up blood from the impact with his foot before she was thrown backwards as the whip had dissolved.

" **Red Skull**!" Juvia heard it after she saw a giant burning purple skull being thrown at her, she reacted by instinct at this point.

" **Water Wall**!" She casted as she formed a wall of water to try and block the shot, it did no good and merely slowed it down before she was hit yet again by a blast of fire. She was thrown to the floor, covered with burns and bruises. She tried to get up as quickly as possible but once she forced herself to her knees, she found herself in a large black box with only a small hole which she could see Natsu preparing another spell.

" **Prominence Blasting Furnace**!" Natsu roared as he fired off a small ball of fire which entered the pip hole before exploding inside the box, multiplying the force impacting Juvia tenfold. This time she couldn't keep back the screams of pain.

"HAAAAAAAAAAH!" she screamed out as every inch of each was burned, the spell only lasted a few moment but it felt like years with how hot it was. Everyone was stunned that Juvia was taken down so easily and more so viciously as it was clear from the sight of her she wasn't getting back up, hell she looked like she was barely breathing.

" **Rock Avalanche**!" Jura quickly casted when He noticed Natsu was preparing another spell, seemingly preparing to kill the young women, the rocks fall forced Natsu to jumped back to avoid the attack.

" **Ice make: Floor**!" Gray casted as the floor around them was frozen, allowing Dodengal the time he needed to snatch up Juvia before any-more harm could come to her. He quickly got her to Wendy and Shelia who immediately started healing her, Gray by their side.

"Juvia, Juvia! Are you alright? Say something." Gray begged her as he held her hand, Juvia looked at him with dopey, pained eyes as she struggled to stay awake.

"Forgive me Gray, I couldn't beat him…I…I didn't even phase him." Juvia muttered out, ashamed she was taken down so quickly after all her training.

"Forget about that, I'll take of that later, just relax and get better." Gray told her as he tried to use his magic to cool down some of the burns, his anger at Natsu ever rising in the background but before he could explode into a fury,

"Oh my God, Juvia are you alright?!" Lucy yelled as she and Happy landed right in front of them, running towards her barely conscious friend.

"Lucy, you're back! Wendy stated as she poured more and more healing magic into Juvia, succeeding in healing most of the internal damage.

"What happened!?" Lucy asked, seemingly ignoring Wendy as she fretted over Juvia wounded body.

"She took on Natsu, didn't she?" Happy asked, sadden by the turn of events and how they spiralled out of control so fast.

"Yeah, she didn't do so well either but she got him to call off his beasts." Shelia told him as she to, was doing her best to heal the water mage.

"Why didn't you say something Happy?!" Gray demanded as he grabbed the blue exceed and shook him around, angry that Happy kept info from them.

"I didn't think you would try to fight him!" Happy yelled back, not happy about the situation at all and getting angry himself, before any more could be said they heard three spells.

" **Supreme King Rock Crush**!" Jura casted as he sent numerous boulders at Natsu.

" **Aerial Phose**!" Ren casted as he sent a large cyclone of air towards the self-proclaimed king.

" **Memory-Make: A Night of Falling Stars**!" Rufus casted as he to, took a pot shot at the human turned dragon.

Natsu didn't looked phased or amused by this.

" **Fire Magic: Burning Tornado**!" Natsu counted as he casted a three layered magic circle around himself which created an enormous flaming tornado which blocked the attacks by burning them to a crisp. Natsu then rose his clenched fist into the air

" **Echoing through the mountains** …." Natsu begun, the temperature of the battlefield rising.

"What now?!" Sting asked as he and Rogue readied to jump in.

" **The wails of the nine circles** …" Natsu continued, undisturbed by the wizards around him as the fires that were out of minute ago reignited and burned even hotter than before.

"Just what kind of spell is this?!" Eve yelled over the blazing fires around them, most jumping away from them to avoid being burned.

" **Striking back with unending fury and devastation** …" Natsu carried on as the flames around them suddenly all moved towards him, gathering into a monolithic ball, of fire above his raised fist.

"It can't be!" Gajeel muttered, having recognized how the spell was familiar to another one he had seen.

" **RAGING INFERNO!** " Natsu cried as he brought down his fist, sending a gigantic blast of scorching hot fire towards the group at large, aiming to wipe them out.

" **Iron Rock Golem**!" Jura casted as an equally large stone golem formed in front of them and took the blast, even then the force behind the spell forced the golem back more than 30ft before it finally shattered like glass, luckily this gave everyone a chase to get out of the way.

"Gods, that was just like Laxus's spell!" Erza yelled as she had to stab her sword into the ground to keep up due to the heat and pressure hitting them like a train.

"When did he even have the time to learn it?!" Lucy cried as he held on for dear life as the pressure wave from the attack threaten to throw her back.

"Incoming!" Happy yelled out as he saw Natsu dashing towards him faster than most thought him capable. Sting quickly got in front of the group prepared his own attack to intercept.

" **White Dragon's Holy Breath**!" Sting casted as he jumped forward to meet Natsu and released a large, extremely powerful burst of light from his mouth. The spell hit home but did little more than to slow him down before Natsu casted his own offense.

" **Volcanic Inferno**!" he cried as he punched the ground under him, causing the area to shake before fire erupted from the earth, accompanying this was were small volcanic eruptions of magma, catching almost all the rune knights and quickly killing them by fire or lava.

"Like I told Lucy, I'm not the same boy you all think is still here, to prove that I have learned **fire magic** ; **Prominence flame** ; **Purple flame** ; **Lava magic** and a few others I won't be sharing. I've ascended above you all! Don't think for a second you're my equal!" Natsu told them, letting his power flow out of him, shunning most silent as they felt the depths of his magic.

" _Heaven have mercy, he easily has nine times what he had two years ago_!' Erza thought to herself as she resisted the urge to take a step back, the wizards of Pegasus and Cerberus falling to their knees as they simply couldn't keep themselves standing in the presence of such dominance, Beth, Wendy, Carla, Happy and Lucy falling to the same fate as they fell to their knees. Wizards like Shelia and Carla was barely standing.

Suddenly the area was coated in purple ice as the temperature plummeted from the overwhelming 56 degrees Celsius to a cold 6 near instantly. They gathered found the source to be Gray who had his head down, shielding his eyes with his bangs. The Devil Slayer tattoo clearly on display as it had grown to encompass his whole right side.

"Above us ye?" Gray muttered as he stood up and started walking to face Natsu, all the while Natsu was curious as to what Gray thought he could do that the others couldn't. Gray stopped just a few metres shy of him and raised his head, letting Natsu see that half his face was black to with his right eye radiating a sinister violet.

"I'll shot you just how far you're fallen! Right here! Right now!" Gray yelled before he charges him, the devil slayer ice particles flowering in his wake.

The dragon prince takes on the devil slayer.

 **Well that's the eleventh chapter of this little story, next chapter Natsu and Gray finally duke it out like they did in the mange but this time we will see just how much damage they can do with Erza being unable to get between them like she did since now as far as she knows, Natsu would sooner kill her then let her get in the way. Of course he wouldn't but for reasons she wouldn't believe if he told her. I tried to show that Juvia did get a lot stronger but still lost as Natsu is a dragon, however she wounded him, even if it's slight its counts. Gray is gonna do much more as Natsu is part demon now, so Gray's devil slayer magic gives him an advantage now. I'm thinking that Irene should appear next chapter and stop this fight as at this point Natsu has killed 95% of the Rune Knights, which are just cannon fodder if you ask me since a whole unit was killed or wounded by Eisenwald, the same dark guild that Erza basically took out by herself with little to no effort, so yeah I don't respect them and think the council just throws them at dark guilds to slow them down. Anyway back to point, Irene might appear next chapter to stop the madness before Natsu kills them all, bar Wendy and Erza (** _ **Wendy's on his no killed list since his not THAT heartless**_ **).**

 **Pls review and thanks for reading!**


	14. Shattered Bonds Reformed

**Chapter 12: Shattered bonds reformed**

 **Here we are with the next chapter of Burning Skies my readers, as stated for this chapter, not only will Natsu and Gray go head to head in a one on one match-up BUT Irene finally makes her reappearance. As you can imagine, Gray is pissed sure but no-where near what he was in cannon when he thought Juvia died while Natsu is a lot more battle crazy as I always saw him as a berserker. As a result: A total blood bath since Natsu might just aim to kill or main Gray while some part of Gray fights to help his friend regain what he has lost while the demon side of him fights to destroy a threat.**

 **Enough talk, let's fight!**

(Previously)

"Above us ye?" Gray muttered as he stood up and started walking to face Natsu, all the while Natsu was curious as to what Gray thought he could do that the others couldn't. Gray stopped just a few metres shy of him and raised his head, letting Natsu see that half his face was black to with his right eye radiating a sinister violet.

"I'll show you just how far you're fallen! Right here! Right now!" Gray yelled before he charges him, the devil slayer ice particles flowering in his wake.

The dragon prince takes on the devil slayer.

(Now)

How did it come to this?

No…the real question if why did it come to this.

This wasn't supposed to happen, none of it was!

So why?

Why did we fail so badly that the one we all saw as unbreakable was shattered and re-forged into…this?

I told them, Happy told them that fighting was supposed to be a last resort. Sure Natsu responded more to actions than words but this is different.

He is different.

While Lucy was helping to treat Juvia after he fight with Natsu, these were the thoughts that plagued her mind, she couldn't help but think of an alternate route this could have taken, she was a writer and journalist.

" **Ice Make: Cannon!** "

This been going one for the better part of the last 15 minutes. Natsu and Gray were just slugging it out like they used to. No, nothing like they used to.

" **Red Skull!** "

She could tell, everyone still awake could tell, that Natsu had been toying with Gray for the most part. Sure Gray scored a blow earlier on which was a victory but after that. Natsu stopped playing around. Lucy looked to the left and saw the large pieces of ice that what remained of some of Gray's earlier attacks.

And it was only getting worse.

(With the two fighters)

" **Ice-Make: Impact!** " Gray casted as she created a massive intricately-designed hammer made of ice and smashed it down in Natsu, only for the dragon turned humanoid to raise both hands and catch it, killing the momentum dead in its track.

"Good approach, bad execution. **Two layered magic: Grand fire bomb!** " Natsu said before he casted into creation an equally large fire ball which ploughed through the ice hammer and flew upwards. It look like it was going to fly into space till Natsu brought down a single finger pointing in Gray's direction.

" **Firestorm!** " Natsu called out as the fireball exploded into dozens of smaller ones and showered into Gray position.

" **Ice Make: Dome!** " Gray casted as the ice dome shielded him from the brunt of the attack before shattering in the last stages of the attack. Gray quickly went on the offensive. " **Ice Make: Freeze Lancer!** " Gray casted as he fired off 6 large spears of ice towards Natsu who dashed to the right to avoid them.

"Dammit, stay still!"

"Nope!" Natsu said with a crazed grin as he fired off his own attack. " **Prominence Typhoon!** " And with that a large blast of red fire was fired at Gray who like Natsu, dodged the blast, not minding the heat wave and explosion of it hitting something behind him.

'Dammit, this is getting me nowhere fast, even after I froze the area!' Gray thought to himself as he tried to think of another attack plan.

Shame Natsu didn't give him one.

" **Rumblehorn!** " Natsu called out as he fired off numerous blast of fire towards Gray from each hand, each shot forcing his hands backyard like the recoil of a cannon, each one also was making a sound similar to a war horn as they were created and subsequently fired off, Gray quickly placed up a defence with his Ice make: Shield before jumping back, knowing that it won't hold. This proved to be right as after 5 shots, the shield was destroyed and Natsu refocused his aim on Gray. Who proceeded to dodged them the best he could, some coming way to close for comfort.

"Two can play at this game. **Ice Make: Arrows!** " Gray casted as he fired off much larger than normal arrows at the fire blast, each one cancelling out the other for a bit before Natsu cut his attack and jump into the air, flames gathering around the palm if his hands.

" **Rapid Fire Volley!** " Natsu casted as he fired off hundreds of small balls of fire at Gray, each one only as big as a baseball but all together…

" **Ice make: Bunker!** " Gray casted in a hurry to block the attack, luckily for him the bunker held out against the onslaught, once the cost was clear, a hatch opened up in the bunker's roof and from it come out a very large barrel made from ice. The barrel was aimed straight at Natsu.

" **Ice make: Howitzer!** " Gray casted as he fired off a massive blast of ice and frost at Natsu who chose to block the attack, the dragon turned human was pushed back well over 100ft before he dispersed the spell.

"Well that was certainly impressive Gray, another one of those and I make actually break a sweat." Natsu taunted as he landed, Gray would have attacked him on the spot but he noticed that Natsu didn't land and act like this nothing like he had been for most of the fight, be looked like he was in pain.

"Damn, what do you know, it's actually starting to hurt." Natsu said to himself as he looked down to the slab of Devil Slayer ice he had landed one, even with boots on, he could feel the ironic burning sensation.

"What are you talking about?" Gray asked/demanded of him as he took this time to catch his breath.

"I'm part demon Gray, at least in this form. Don't ask how cause I don't know-my best guess is I adsorbed a little bit of Mard Geer and Jackal two years ago. It's a great power boost but it's a real pain against magic such as this." Natsu revealed as he pointed down to the ice he was standing on. Gray and everyone was surprised by this new information…well everyone except Mira and Happy, one already knew and the other had her suspicions on the subject as she had been feeling demonic energy flowing out his him, not much but it was still there none the less.

"…Why would you tell me that, you know I practice Devil Slayer Magic?" Gray asked him wearily as he readied himself for another near death brawl. Natsu at this just shrugged his shoulders, not at all concerned by this.

"Don't really know, maybe I want you to actually have a chance in hell since this is boring…or maybe I want you to know that even with that knowledge, I'll still crush you." Natsu told him as his smirk turned into a blood thirsty grin as he eyed what he saw as a piece of meat ready for the slaughter.

"We'll see about that- **Absolute Freeze!** " Gray casted as he froze the entire area with his devil slayer ice, effectively making the entire battleground a hazard for Natsu to step on.

"Hey I remember when Silver used this on me, but that was then…this is now!" Natsu told him before he took in a deep breath, Gray was preparing for his roar but rather than that, Natsu breathed out a torrent of burning liquid that set fire to everything it touched, not even the ice was safe as it too caught fire, it didn't melt but it was one fire. " **Greek Fire!** " Natsu casted as he finished his spell, smiling like a madman as Gray looked upon the flames as they climbed ever higher.

"Now this is a hellscapes a man can get used to. Come one oh wizard of frost and snow, show me what you can do!" Natsu said aloud as the flames casted dancing shadows that if Gray didn't know any better, would say that they were an extension of the darkness within him.

(With the others)

"How did he set fire to the ice?" Lyon asked in disbelief, never before had he heard that such a thing was possible.

"I don't know, isn't it supposed to be fireproof?" Sherry asked they all moved a bit further back as the flames grew intensity and power, making it uncomfortable to be near them.

"It was the spell." Jura stated as he looked upon the flames with a clear frown ad sweat gathered on his brow.

"What do you mean Jura, what about it?" Yuka asked his senior guildmate as he kept some of the flames back with his wave only to dispel it when he saw that even his 'waves' were catching fire.

"That spell as created for the soul purpose of setting fire to materials that regular fire can't such as water and ice. It was named after an ancient warrior culture and their ferocity in battle. To think he would have learned such a technique." Jura told them all as he never imagined he would see this spell be used by anyone other than the former 1st wizard saint, he knew that when used right, one small fire could burn a whole town to the ground with very little countermeasures against it.

"Happy, what else does he know?" Erza asked the Exceed, they needed a plan and they needed one fast.

"Well…" Happy was clearly hesitate to give them any more info but they could see that he did want the fighting to stop.

"Happy please, you don't want to fight him anymore than you do but we need to get him to at least listen to us again." Lucy begged him, she wanted to help her friend as much as he did but they needed Natsu to calm down first.

"….He knows smoke and lightening dragon slayer magic." Happy told them sadly as he flew into Lucy's chest for her to hug him, clearly overwhelm by the situation.

"When did he pick that one up?" Orga asked as that seemed very bad to know as the pyro obviously didn't feel the need to use it yet, showing just how much he was holding back.

"It was from Laxus, wasn't it? From when we battled Hades nine years ago?" Erza asked Happy as he nodded at her question, confirming her thoughts on the matter "I didn't think he would have refined his skill in it to the level of not needing to activate his flames to use it but." She added

"You got that right, I still need to go into Iron Shadow Made just to use shadow dragon slayer magic." Gajeel added as he stood back up, still holding his hand as Wendy had healed it but not fully as she needed to focus on other right now, Bacchus was still out of the fight and from the look of it, he wasn't going to enter the fray again any time soon.

"Can we try to put them out?" Ren asked as he eyed the flames with distaste.

"Unlikely that you wind will do anything more than strengthen them, besides…I don't think he would let you live for interrupting his battle." Jura told him honestly as he had accepted then this battle may be the last for either them…or Natsu

"Aye, Natsu always been battle crazy but now…I don't know how we are going to be able to get through to him." Levy said as he helped Lilly to stand again.

"But…But we have to! There has to be a way, she's not here so she can't talk him down so we have to do it." Happy pleaded with them with tears in his eyes, he just couldn't accept that his father may die, did didn't want to accept it.

"You mean the other dragon?" Kagura asked to which Happy nodded.

"Okay how would she do it, how would she get him to listen?" Kagura asked him, if they knew how she did it then it should be easier for them to figure out a method themselves.

"He would just listen, he cares too much about her not to." Happy told them sadly as he didn't really know if she had a way with words, knew when to speak or maybe Natsu just listened to her.

"What is her name than?" Lisanna asked as up till this point, no name had been dropped.

"It's…it's…" Happy started but held back.

"Please Happy." Lisanna pleaded with him, what damage could knowing a name do?

"It's Irene." Happy told them.

"Are you all speaking about Lady Irene?" A new voice asked, gaining all their attention as they turned to see one of the villagers standing behind them. She was wearing a simple blouse and dress combo but the look in her eyes showed she wasn't in the best of moods.

"When the hell did you get here?!" Rocker yelled as he jumped back in fright, how the hell she got here without no-one noticing her!

"Not too long ago but you've all been too distracted to notice." She replied, not at all surprised by their shock

"Your one of the villagers who spied on us, aren't you?" Arana asked as she eyed the newcomer.

"I am." She confirmed without hesitation.

"Why?" Minerva asked as she meet the poker-face of the newcomer.

"Because we don't trust you and it seems we were right not do, all you have done is stolen why was ours, ignored our warnings and now you have angered our protector and ruler." She told them as she pointed to the battle raging just across the flames.

" _Patty, what are you doing here?"_ Happy asked her through a telepathic link he felt her establish when she announced her presence.

" _Lady Irene was sighted to the north of here, last reports we got was that she wiped out a dark guild that had set up camp in the area."_ Patty reported as she sent him the info she read on the report.

" _So that means…"_ Happy started but she interrupted him.

" _Yes, she is on her way here, shouldn't be more than another ten minutes."_ Patty confirmed as she continued to watch the fight press on.

" _And Natsu too absorbed in his fight to notice isn't he?"_ Happy thought sadly as he too turned to watched the fight catching Grey dodging a fireball.

' _Yes, if he knew he would most likely have killed the ice wizard and flown to meet her but let's not get ahead of ourselves just jet."_ Patty said as her king could have easily turned into a dragon and finished this off long ago but chose not to.

(Back with the two combatants)

" **Ice Devil's Rage!** " Gray casted as he let loose his breath attack, trying to make space to think as Natsu had been on him this whole time, dodging his attack before launching his own counterattacks.

" **Fire-wall!** " Natsu tiredly casted as a 60ft wall of flame came into being right in front of him, taking the attack, even if it was reduced to a frozen sculpture. It had served its purpose.

" **Ice make: Excalibur!** " Gray casted as he formed a large double edged broadsword the launched himself through the frozen fire to take on Natsu in close quarters, sadly Natsu was ready to meet him head on.

" **Prominence Beast!** " Natsu casted a large monster made out of red fire came into being and charged at Gray "Take him my pet." Natsu told his creation as he jumped back.

"It will take more than-" Gray started as she slashed the beast in two, destroying it as he kept on going "An oversized fireball to take me on!" Gray finished as he jumped up and prepared to finish this off.

"I know…you just walked into it." Natsu told him as he clapped his hands together, just as Gray landed, he saw the same black walls that had surrounding Juvia surround him, and he realized it a moment too late.

'Crap!' Gray thought to himself as scrambled to get a counter going.

" **Prominence Blasting Furnace!** " Natsu casted with glee as the trap was sprung with Gray right in the middle of it, he was rewarded by the same pained screams from the black box before he dispersed that as well. But his surprise, he didn't see a body.

"Now…where did he go? That shouldn't have killed him." Natsu asked himself as that didn't have the kind of power to incinerate a wizard of Gray's calibre. As he walked over where he saw Gray standing, he saw shards of ice all over the place and suddenly it clicked in his mind.

"A decoy…wait a minute!" Natsu said aloud as he tried to jump back, only to nearly lose his balance, he looked down and saw his feet and shins had been frozen to the floor, the ice flowing with devil slayer magic meaning he wouldn't be able to melt it in time to escape the trap _he_ had walked into.

"What?!" Natsu yelled in anger and surprise as he looked around for his opponent, he didn't have to look hard to see that Gray was standing a little over 20ft from him, a little burned but still standing.

"This ends right now Natsu!" Gray yelled as he took the classic ice maker stance and started pouring unreal amounts of power into whatever he was doing.

' _I can't move! He lured me here...smart play Gray, smart play'_ Natsu thought to himself with a small smile as he was man enough to admit when he had been outsmarted.

" **Devil's Ice Make: Grand Impact!** " Gray casted as a giant intricately designed hammer the three times the size of the one he tried to use on Silver two years prior was created 200ft above Natsu, Gray then brought it down upon the dragon in human form with the force of a rocket, destroying everything within range and generating a blast wave so strong it knocked Gray off his feet. Even the wizards observing the battle weren't spared as they too had to hold on for dear life as the sheer destructive wave threatened to blast them away as well. Afterwards there was silence on the battlefield as even the raging fires were put out by the ice or the momentary lack of oxygen. The wizards all got back up to their feet to see that the battlefield was silent, no sounds of battle could be heard and both combatants were hidden by the chunks of ice and dust cloud blocking their view.

"That…that had to have been enough…I put…almost everything I had into that…" Gray said to himself as he could barely stand after using up all that power.

"Was...was that enough?" Lyon asked as he never before had anyone seen something like that. The shock was still present in their minds.

"I don't know, I don't feel his presence anymore." Beth said as she couldn't feel his heavy magical presence.

"So he's knocked out then, we win?" Lector asked as he floated behind Sting for cover.

"Gray-sama did it?" Juvia said quietly as she couldn't stop the smile of happiness from spreading across her face at the news.

"I wouldn't count on it." Patty said, breaking the mood.

"What do you mean Patty?" Happy asked her.

"Happy, you and I both know that although that was a great performance by the ice wizard, the fact of the matter is that he put most of his remaining power into that assault and is in no shape to continue." Patty said as the dust started to clear for them to see that Grey was indeed in no condition to fight, hell it looked like just standing was a chore at this point.

"But is it needed? I mean you saw that strike that must have done him in." Rocker asked weary of her answer. Their answer came in the form of the ground itself shaking, the magical pressure that was gone a moment ago returning with a vengeance.

"No…it only got him more excited for battle…" Parry told them as the air itself starting to rise in temperature.

"T-That's impossible, nothing should be alive after that." Risley muttered as it become very clear that Natsu was down but far from out.

"Damn it! Just how much do I need to give for you stay down?" Gray asked as he tried to ready himself for the battle to continue.

"The ice…is cracking? How?!" Gajeel asked as he had seen first-hand how tough that was.

"Well this a fine mess I gotten myself into…I admit Grey. Juvia was right about you, you are strong." Natsu admitted with a smile, if anyone could see it, they would have seen that it was a different one to the ones he had been showing them throughout the battle, another change even he did know about was the fact that the single red scale that represented his humanity had grown, now eight times its size. At that moment the hammer he was hit, starting to grow cracks all over itself before breaking into 7 different pieces which themselves were cracking up.

"How are you still moving under there?!" Gray yelled in frustration and fear as he saw the broken pieces of the hammer he dropped start to move around.

"Oh this? I ain't gonna lie, this was mighty impressive…but as I already said. Ice will never beat me…never again." Natsu said in a deadly serious tone as the magic power he was putting out continued to rise to twice what he put out in the beginning of their fight, the power was enough to drop Grey to his knees, too weak to resist it.

"Is that lava?!" Rogue asked as he noticed that lava was flowing out of the area under the impact zone, meaning that it must be coming from Natsu

"Everyone move!"

" **Three Layered Magic Circle: Grand King Upsurge!** " Natsu casted as s giant eruption of lava and magma shot out from under Natsu's position, blasting the ice pieces into vapour and blowing Grey off his feet

"You didn't think ahead Grey but I can't blame you. Most things would have been beat with that last attack but at the same time, it shattered the ice layer you had put down earlier, allowing me to once more call upon the burning magma of the very Earth." Natsu told him as he made his approach, flexing his fingers as flickers of fire danced around him, seemingly preparing for the finishing move, Gray was nearly out of power and still couldn't believe that his old rival was still ticking at this level of efficiency but none the less forced himself to his feet to meet him in kind. Once Natsu was around a few feet away from him, he stopped and observed Grey head to toe, like he was looking for a weak spot to expose before he spoke once more.

"…Calm yourself, I have no intention of continuing with this battle. That goes to all of you." Natsu suddenly announced as he cancelled the flames around him and his power level return to the dormant state it was when he spoke with Lucy.

"Is he for real?" Sting asked the group at large, not buying that after all that…he was willing to just stop fighting.

"I don't know." Erza answered as she knew how much he loved to keep a fight going as long as possible, this was really out of character for him.

"Grey, as I already said, I was wrong about you and for that, you have my apologies. You were able to inflict more damage than Juvia could ever hope to do and thanks deserves praise." Natsu told the ice maker as he gestured to the few bruises forming on his chest and cuts across his arms as well as his near non-existent clothes as he was left only wearing pants with his torso was bare.

"Oh my God, he's right, he's all beat up!" Rocker yelled.

"Is that means that he…" Lector asked but stopped himself mid-sentence.

"I can see what my father saw in you humans, even though you are hopelessly outmatched and guaranteed to die by my hands, you didn't hesitate and threw in everything you had and more…all to protect what you hold dear." Natsu said as he gestured to Grey's beaten and tired form before he sighed and closes his eyes in thought. "So consider this fight yours Grey, you earned it."

"So…so I win?" Grey asked as he had to focus to just stay standing.

"Only because killing you would serve no purpose, I think all of you already know I was holding back, and I'm not talking about my dragon form or my dragons fire either, what I was using here was about 70% of what I'm capable of in this form." Natsu told him, crashing their hopes that they even had a chance if he deemed them annoying enough to just blast straight to hell.

"…Heh…you were holding back that much then?" grey asked as he let himself fell on his ass in exhaustion, not really seeing the need to keep standing when the fight was already over.

"Yes but as I said, it was impossible for you to win and if I wanted you dead, you'll all be dead at my feet right now. Hell that last spell I used could have hit all of you and from the looks of it, some of you would have been unable to escape it." Natsu informed them as he pointed to the still very hot lava around them.

"But…but why?" Grey asked.

"It was what Lucy told me in our meeting, her words have been on my mind this entire fight, it was the reason I chose not to incinerate Lilly, Bacchus, Gajeel and Juvia when I had the chance but you all proved her right as the fight went on, rather than fighting for your own survival, you fought for the lives of the person standing next to you, regardless of whether they were your guildmate, friend or none of the latter." Natsu told them with a smirk as he saw the surprised faces on the gathered group.

"You mean that you were-?" Lucy asked as she like the rest had heard what he just said.

"That I was listening to you Lucy? It's hard not to, you fairy tail wizards can be loud as all hell." Natsu confirmed as his smirk grew a little bigger. Leaving Lucy with a small smile of her own.

"Yeah, you're right there." Lucy said as she thought of all the times Natsu himself was the cause of that noise.

"Hmmm…Patty." Natsu said as he turned his attention to the lone villager present.

"Yes sir?" Patty asked as she nodded to him in a way only a servant could to their master.

"Please inform my staff that we will be having quests for the next few days, and to prepare the med bay for more than a few people." Natsu said as he turned his back to them and started walking back to his castle.

"Just like that, your letting us stay with you?" Erza asked, watching as he kept on walking.

"Only until your wounded are fit for travel out of my territory, make no mistake, you have my respect, not my friendship nor is this an attempt to re-join any of you, those bridges have long since been destroyed." Natsu stated as he turned to look at her with a blank face

"That's the best we can hope for, isn't it." Erza asked but more stated, however the answer didn't came from Natsu but from…another source.

" **At least for now**." A powerful female boomed from above them.

"Who said that?!" Carla yelled as she and everyone else started to look around, it wasn't till Patty spoke that everyone knew who it was.

"It is Lady Irene, she has arrived." Patty said as she pointed to the hills behind them where they could see a large dragon approaching them. For most of them, it may have been the third second or third time they had seen dragons but none the less it was an awe-inspiring sight to behold.

"Wow, never seen a female dragon before." Semmes said as he pointed to Irene as she came in for a landing beside Natsu who had fully turned to face her.

"Yeah, she's bigger than him, is that mean she's older?" Elfman asked as recalled how big Igneel looked and what Natsu looked like in his dragon form and was able to tell that Natsu was the smallest of the three.

"Must be, you heard Wendy's mother, most dragons went extinct well over 400 years ago." Rogue answered.

" **Oh how rude, speaking about a women's age when she can hear you**." Irene stated, get them to all jump as they saw her giving them a grin as it was probably her intention to get a rise out of them.

"As always it is good to see you Irene, don't mind them. They're not known for their manners." Natsu said to her with a smile which really threw them off as it was so similar to the ones he use to flash to just about everyone, seems he reserved them for just her now.

" **So you say, I saw you battle, you're right they do know how to fight at the very least**." Irene responded as she looked him over and saw the damage he took was minimal as he had taken worse from their training session…still it was a feat that his former friends could actually land a hit in the first place.

"Anyway, I have invited them to stay till their wounds have been seen to and taken care of, it would be a dishonour to make them leave in their condition, and most of them can't even defend themselves in their current state." Natsu said as he pointed to the ones he had taken out of fight such as Bacchus, Gajeel and Juvia who were still being treated. Not really caring for all the no-names council members he had killed.

" **Your right there…hmmm…how about you head on ahead of us, we'll catch up**." Irene suggested as she eyes the group but gave more attention to Erza, luckily the redhead didn't seem to notice.

"You sure about that?" Natsu asked her with a frown.

" **Of course I am dear, if they couldn't beat you then they have no chance of harming me…not that their stupid enough to make the attempt, isn't that right?** " Irene assured him as he turned back to the group and releases some of her power as she grinned, showing off her own razor sharp teeth.

"Yes mam!" they all chorused in fear at what she would be able to do if she was truly stronger than Natsu

"Man, why do I feel like this is familiar?" Lucy asked Cana as she felt that thus fear shooting down her spine was somehow…familiar.

"Don't know but it just feels like it." Cana answered as she took a gulp to swallow the saliva build-up as she and the rest of them looked onto the mighty beast.

'Oh if only those poor fools knew that this is Erza's mother. If they think she's scary, they haven't seen Irene mad yet…which is a good thing.' Happy thought to himself as he thought it would be best for that information to be said at another time.

"Alright then. I'll see you back at the castle." Natsu agreed before he turned to walk away, once he made a distance from them, he transformed into his own dragon form and took flight back to his castle, leaving the group to their own devices.

"I suppose that we should greet then." Wendy said to break the ice, Irene agreeing with the youngest slayer.

" **I agree. I am the Sage Dragon Irene. It's a pleasure to meet you all in person**." Irene introduced herself to the group with her version of a bow, once everyone had their turn to introduce themselves which in the case of Lilly and Bacchus as done for them. Irene led them back to the castle, it was quiet was they walked before dropped something out of the blue. " **I meant what I said back there, give him time and you will have his trust again, he's too Natsu to lock someone out of his heart for forever**." Irene stated with a smile as he continued to lead them back, purposely not answering their question about her statement.


	15. A Stale Dinner Reception

**Well here it is, the next chapter of Burning Skies. Here there won't be another fight since we all know how that would go but rather it will give us a look into the character's interactions and responses to the present situation. For the reviews, they have been positive and informative as to what you all think of this story and I thank those who took the time to even post reviews. To address some of them.**

 **TheOnlyKin** **g, I don't see the need for him to kill off important characters to show his darker nature because that's predictable, as Natsu himself said, he has no interest in reforming the guild or joining up with them, he may take on the role of an ally to them in the future but they will always butt heads over how to deal with things as you can imagine Makarov (and any successor he may choose) would never approve of what Natsu has done or what he's planning to do. Also, it was stated that he killed dozens of people for trespassing and didn't care then or will ever, as far as Fairy tail in concerned if he doesn't feel remorse for his actions, he will never find redemption (he doesn't care about it).**

 **To** **kawabanga258** **and** **eltonalmeida9** **, thank you for noticing. I admit, my Hobbit is rusty as I haven't seen the movies in years nor did I ever read the books as a kid but the idea itself was appealing to me and I thought that it could be worked into the storyline.**

 **To** **DdraigTrueEmperor9** **, Natsu has not forgiven anyone for their actions but has merely recognised that they are worth his respect. Natsu is first and foremost, a fighter or warrior and all the best and most decorated warriors learned to respect their enemies, rivals and allies above all else...but like a Spartan, for him the quickest way to do so is by proving your metal in combat. As we saw with Gray and Juvia, Natsu still enjoys a good fight now more than ever.**

 **A Stale Dinner Reception**

 **(Hou** **rs later, within the walls of Mt Ruby castle)**

Night had long since fallen on the mountain and its inhabitants. It had been some time since Natsu allowed them the win and Irene lead them back to the castle for their treatment. They are all separated as the wounded were treated by some of the villagers while the rest were lead to their sleep-quarters. They put a small fight when they found out again they would be split as each room only had three beds but gave in when it was pointed out there was foul play or ill intent involved. It wasn't long before the injured found themselves in their respective rooms where they were able to change into clean clothes.

There wasn't much time after then before they were all lead to the banquet Hall for dinner which is where the story takes off from.

"I haver knew this was so large and complex." Kagura said as she and the rest of the group had been seated at a very large table, the lights had long since been lit and the décor was spot, if she wasn't in the castle of a fire breathing dragon, she would have felt underdressed for the occasion. She was seated at one end of the table next to Rocker.

"No kidding, the entrance really lowered your expectations." Lyon agreed with her from his place between Toby and Gajeel, they weren't really allowed to pick their seats and weren't about to push their luck over such a trivial thing so they had been seated randomly.

"And here I was thinking it would look like his old house." Gray said as he drank a bit of the water felt for them. Luckily(or unluckily depending on who you ask) he was seated in between Risley and Rogue. Juvia was seated a few chairs down from his left next to Bacchus and Arana.

"Still." Erza contemplated aloud as she looked around the room at the armed guards stationed at the two doors in and out. "I would have never thought this would be how our day here ended. I still feel on edge." She finished as she locked eyes with Jura who seemed to be in similar thoughts.

"What's the problem, we fought, we lost and now we drink!" Bacchus said as he waited for the booze to be served.

"Bacchus, you were literally beat into the ground by him. How are you in such high spirits?" Sting asked the drink loving wizard who just shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal.

"Well he could have killed us you know but he didn't, if he wanted us dead, they would be burying the bodies' right about now." Bacchus replied as he gestured to his bandages and healing black eye, they all knew walking away from that fight was a miracle but they didn't think Bacchus would be so nonchalant about it.

"As much as never thought this would happen, I agree with him. At the very least we can take the opportunity to talk with him, see if we can't learn more about him and his goals." Jura said to the group at large from his place next to Carla and Warcry.

"What are you talking about, we already know what." Gajeel stated only for Lilly to shake his head in response.

"Not really, we have a summary of what they plans are but not much else." Lilly stated as they knew next to nothing about Natsu as he had shown very little about his past self was still accurate while Irene was a mystery all on her own.

"Are you referring to Irene?" Wendy asked the black exceed from her spot opposite Kagura next to Yuka, when he nodded his head in response she continued. "She seemed nice, she talked with us like we were on good terms."

"Yes and from Happy told us, she makes Natsu happy. I never thought the day would came when that guy would find a woman." Cana stated as she swirled her water around the glass from her spot next to Erza and Lector.

"Yes, he was always more focused on other things than his love life, guess even he needed to settle down sooner or later, right Gray." Lucy teased as she looked over to Gray who frown at her comment.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked her to which Lucy just looked the over way with a smile.

"Oh nothing."

Before they conversation could go on, Happy walked in the room in human form but different clothes. He now wore loose white pants along with a green button-up shirt and white vest. He looked well-trimmed and all proper, so proper Carla had trouble pairing the image to the image of the tomcat she remembered who never even wore pants much less a shirt. He moved to seat neat the head of the table.

As he sat down, the kitchen staff come in and laid the table with their food. They were presently surprised to see how well done the food had been prepared as they were given a spread of chicken, pork, rice, salads and bread. Cana and Bacchus only noticed the Wine they were served and were sadden to see they were only getting a glass each.

"What's with the spread?" Sting asked as he examined the food. He wasn't expecting the man of the hour himself to answer.

"There are rules a king must follow if he is to been seen as such." Natsu stated as he and Irene walked into the hall. Like Happy they had changed into their human forms and switched clothing with Natsu wearing a full three piece black suit and red tie while Irene had opted for a well-made and vey complimenting red and black evening gown (think late 1800s fashion for the both of them)

"I think he meant they weren't expecting such." Irene commented as they both took in the tense atmosphere without a care as he pulled out her chair for her to sit in.

"Well I must prepare only the best for my Queen love." Natsu answered as he kissed her cheek after she took her seat and moved to take his own next to her.

"Oh you're such a flatterer. You're going to make me blush." Irene replied as she took his hand into hers when he sat down.

"I only speak truth, lying is too much of a hassle these days." Natsu said as he gave her a hand a gentle squeeze and look at her with a now rare peaceful and loving smile, one she returned. "Now onto others, we could hear you from the end of the hallway and I can guess as to why you're all so…silent." Natsu finished as he turned his attention to his 'guests'

"This is merely a situation we weren't expecting." Jura explained for the group at large, something Natsu picked up on.

"Yes you were expecting death or to somehow manage to kill me, yes?" Natsu said out of the blue, shocking them as he actually knew of their attempt. "Do not think I wasn't aware of your goals, I have eyes and ears all over this mountain." Natsu reminded them as he pointed to the numerous guards and servants milling about the room.

"Did you know about the dark guild that had tried to take some of your wealth?" Irene asked him, deciding to bail out the guild wizards before they buried themselves even deeper.

"Yes, I had known about them for quite some time. The village scouts reported to me about them setting up camp around a week ago. It was a somewhat pleasant surprise to learn that Fullbuster was one of them." Natsu answered her, dropping the resident Devil slayer's name.

"How was that pleasant?" Gray asked him, he needed to know just how Natsu knew that when he was sure Avatar had watchmen scouting the area, and just how good were these so called simple villagers at information gathering?

"Because no one would have cared if I decided to up and kill you with the rest of them. I knew you must be planning something as Juvia was no-where in sight but it wouldn't have saved you." Natsu told him with a straight face as he watched as they all stiffened like soldiers when their officer walks by. "I jest, I jest you all are so serious, this is a dinner not an execution, relax." He finished with a chuckle as he took a drink of his wine, which so happen to be the blood red kind.

"Your brand of humour isn't something they appreciate love." Irene told him as she could tell they weren't amused by that last comment but weren't going to voice it.

"Is that so, well you can't please everybody. By the way, how did you know about those dark mages?" Natsu granted her that point as he changed the topic of the conversation.

"I destroyed the camp on the way here, they were so inconsiderate. Attacking a lady for no reason at all." Irene answered him with her regular calm and calculating smile. Something that unnerved the wizards as she too appeared to be desensitized to the idea of killing or rather, preferred it to other methods.

"So that's the smell of smoke a caught earlier, it was feint and figured they had started a large fire." Natsu said as he did recall smelling something amiss during his fight with Juvia but didn't pay it any mind.

"To be honest, I didn't use a lot of fire in the first place." Irene answered him as he chose not to explain how she enchanted the very trees around the camp to attack them, most died before they knew what was happening…those who did she decided to capture them for other…users.

Never be said she was called the 'Scarlet Despair' for nothing.

The two lovers continued their conversation like they were not with company which over the next ten minutes grew more and more irritating to the wizards who wished to actually talk with Natsu. Bacchus of course was the only one with the balls to ask why there was no little alcohol being served to which Natsu off handily replied he never felt the need to stockpile the stuff and wasn't a heavy drinker himself. However as they all finished their admittedly large dinner-they were all starving and after all, the food was excellent-Yuka noticed something odd.

"Excuse me, I don't mean to sound rude but why is there so little food on your plates?" The wave user inquired as he noticed that both their hosts had hardly touch their food.

"Now that you mention it, even Erza had two full plates while you too have had just the one and haven't even finished that yet." Carla stated as she eyed the much more mature and dangerous version of the boy she had come to know.

"Why a lady has to watch her figure, doesn't she?" Irene shot back with a smirk, knowing that wasn't the answer they were looking for but like gentlemen(or because they didn't want to die), all the men present chose not to push it.

"And what about the guy that used to eat eight meals worth of food in a single sitting?" Lucy asked as she recalled the first time she had met the fire breather and how much he ate(on her dime as well)

"There is much you don't know Lucy but there is no need not to share so I shall tell you." Natsu said as he placed down his fork and turned to face her. "Dragon as you can imagine are very different when compared to others creatures, humans in particular. We don't need to eat or sleep as much as you do. I'm perfectly able to go two weeks without sleep and merely do so out of the habit. With food, Irene and I can survive on this simple plate for about 8 days before we need something else." Natsu finished as he pointed to his plate and just like he thought, they were nearly floored by such a statement of the fact he barely needed to eat or sleep.

"How is that possible?" Lyon asked them both though neither were willing to answer.

"Do you really want a detailed explanation on the biology of dragons because I am in no mood to give one." Natsu replied as he took a sip of his wine.

"Next question then?" Irene asked them to change the subject, at the prompt-Wendy raised her hand.

"Do you have any plans after this?" The petite dragon slayer asked them both.

"If you're asking if I wish to join up with all again, the answer is no. if you wish to know where you can your old master, I have a feint idea as to where to look." Natsu stated as every former fairy tail members looked shocked and slightly disappointed.

"Wait, you know where master Makarov is?" Erza asked him.

"And what do you mean you won't come with us?" Wendy asked at the same time with a sadden look.

"To answer Ms. Scarlet, Yes I do as for Ms. Marvell, you heard correctly." Natsu answered them both in the same sentence. He would have kept it at that but a nudge from Irene told him he should say more. "I ran into Makarov on one of my quests, he didn't recognise me as I was under the guise of Charlotte Styles, a pretty little redhead so his attention wasn't where it should have been. We met by Hargeon port and from the ship he was boarding, he was going somewhere west of Ishgar." Natsu revealed with a smirk as he let them imagine the old goat ogling some pretty face and it seemed very possible he wouldn't have noticed anything off because of it. "As for why I won't join, there is no point in such, you all wanted fairy tail gone and that's how it is, you want to 'get the band back together' then count me out."

"But why, don't you want that?" Lisanna asked.

"Tell me, do you know my reasons for joining the guild in the first place?" Natsu asked the group as a whole and as he expected, he didn't get an answer so he pressed on. "It was two fold, all those years ago, it was the best choice in my search for Igneel. The second reason is because was because it gave me a home again. Over time those two reason never really changed but with Igneel's death and my encounter with my beloved," Natsu continued as he gave Irene a look of affection that she returned. "There is no need to return to it." He finished as he faced them again, gaging their facial features for their reactions.

"So you're just gonna walk away?" Gray asked, angry that his long-time rival was so willing to walk away, he didn't notice that Lucy kept quiet and retreated into herself, Erza on the other did notice.

"Yes Fullbuster, I do, you all did so two years ago and I didn't have a say in it. Is this any different?" Natsu asked with a chuckle as he took in his former friends angry features, he looked like he was going to explode into a rant or something.

"What do you mean?" Elfman asked, the way Natsu was carrying himself was really getting under his skin. The look Natsu gave him was of a man who had lost a piece of himself, a man who had lost something precious.

A man who was willing to do _anything_ to keep whatever he still had left.

"When all was said and done, when the dust had settled. I was left with nothing but the charred and _**broken**_ remains of Igneel, I watched him sacrifice himself against that _**disgrace**_ of a dragon slayer, and I watched him _**die**_. And in that time, in my anger- in my loss, my suffering and my hopelessness…I was alone." Natsu stated with an air of sorrow and rage which froze those who were listening. "There was no Scarlet…no Fullbuster…no Dreyer…not even a Marvell." Natsu went on as he locked eyes with each of them as he said their names, Wendy looking like she was about to cry from the revelation about that cursed day. "You all taught me that day that you can't rely on such things, the only thing you can rely on is two things: yourself and family." Natsu finished with a sad and forlorn smirk which looked more broken than anything they had seen from him since.

"Are we not your family?" Mira asked, close to tears as she heard of his plight that day, and how they weren't there for him like he was for many of them.

"No, as far as I'm concerned, my family are those seated next to me, you're all just a bunch of humans who thought stealing from me was a good idea and should be very grateful that I'm so merciful." Natsu stated as he got up from his seat and started to walk to the exit. "Heal up and get off my mountain, I shall retire to my quarters for the evening." Was the last thing he said as he left the hall in silence.

 **(Some time later, in one of the many common areas)**

After the king himself had left the scene, dinner was…tense to say the least. Irene kept up polite conversation but didn't offer much as to into the mind-set of her lover. She was able to tell them more about him and how he was doing when they met and how he had improved over their relationship, something his old team was more than grateful for. After dinner, they were all told to head for their rooms or the common areas near them to rest up. While most of them went to bed: Erza, Lucy, Gray, Mira, Elfman, Lisanna, Wendy and Carla all met up to talk about their problem.

"Arg! How could I have missed it? He was hurting and I wasn't there for the bastard." Grey ranted as he punched at the wall, messing up the finely decorated wall.

"Gray calm down, punching the wall isn't going to help things." Erza tried to ease him as Juvia was out could, still feeling the effects of her fight with Natsu.

"Then what you we do? You all heard him, we messed up and messed up bigtime. There has to be a way to help things." Grey demanded, he wanted answers to this and wanted them now! He wanted to mend what was broken.

"It's the manly thing to do, we have to make it up to him somehow." Elfman whole heartedly agreed with him, he wanted to help the man that once helped him with his grief and make up for not doing so sooner.

"Then how do you suppose we do? He obviously doesn't want us here longer than necessary and we certainly don't have the force to oppose his wishes." Carla asked, more concerned for the effort this was having on young Wendy who had been silent since the dragon had left the table, barely eating after that if not prompted to by her.

"…Did we just leave him?" Wendy finally spoke up, drawing everyone's attention as she looked up with a withdrawn and defeated look in her eyes.

"Child…" Carla tried but Wendy didn't seem to notice.

"Did we just leave him when he was mourning, did we just go without checking up on him?" she asked again, wanting to be told anything else but the truth, for it was too painful to accept.

"…Yes…we did…"Lucy begun as he started to laugh like she too was at a severe loss. "Thinking back on it now makes me want to laugh and cry, when we found him here, I thought he was just being his seemingly thoughtless self and was grumpy. When he told me why he h-ha-disliked us," She went on but changed her working as it felt like acid on her tongue to utter such. "I didn't know what to say, what could I said?" she finished, leaving that thought in the air as all were silenced by it. They all wanted to, needed to fix this rift between them and Natsu but…

How do you write such a wrong when the other party wants nothing to do with you?

How do you go about such with a being with a temperament as short as a goldfish's memory and enough firepower to level small towns at a go?

How do they put that smile they missed so much back on Natsu's hurt and angry face?

.

.

.

 **Well that's that. I had this mostly finished and saved to my hard drive for some time now but I wasn't in any mood for Fairy tail stuff as even the spin-off feels like Hiro took sense and reasoning and threw it down the drain, If I wanted to read Pokémon, I would go out and read Pokémon since Hiro is trying to make 100 Year Quest into a super kid targeted, non-sensical and light hearted thing but that fact is, it's not(The build up at that point didn't fit with it at all). He could have done so with his newer edition manga Eden Zero as it's just a retelling of the Fairy tail universe with new elements and settings(The main character looks like Natsu with black hair and there is a very Happy looking cat for crying out loud in it) but for reasons unknown to me, he decided to try it with an ongoing work like Fairy tail. Honestly it felt like Game of Thrones with the good plot, stellar opening seasons and characters but then…disappointing ending.**

 **Honestly I try and update this one soon but it may take some time as I'm putting more effort into my My Hero Academia story.**


End file.
